QChennai: 1,430 Crores Seized from Raids at Sasikala’s & More

These are the top news stories from Chennai.

1. Rs 1,430 Crore Seized from IT Raids at Places Linked to Sasikala

Income Tax officials have found Rs 1,430 crore undeclared income after the 5-day search at the Jaya TV office and residences and offices of family members of jailed AIADMK party leader VK Sasikala, sources in the IT dept said. IT sources said they have seized Rs 7 crore in cash, over Rs 5 crore worth of gold and a huge collection of diamond jewellery which is yet to be assessed.

Income Tax department sleuths had carried out multi-city raids on 187 premises across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry and Delhi, including those linked to Sasikala, her nephew and deposed AIADMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and Tamil television channel Jaya TV over suspected tax evasion.

(Read the full story here.)

2. Chennai Woman Dies After Stalker Sets Her, Family on Fire

In a shocking incident of a stalker who went on a killing spree, a man in Chennai set the family of a woman on fire. Aakash, who used to study with Indhuja, an engineering graduate, had been stalking her for over a month, claiming he was in love with her. When she didn’t reciprocate, Aakash went to her house late on 13 November and set her and her family on fire.

The incident occurred at Chennai’s Adambakkam AGS Colony, in Saraswathi Nagar, between 8:45 pm and 9 pm on Monday, 13 November. The accused fled but was apprehended on the morning of 14 November. According to reports, when Aakash, who lives in the neighbourhood, landed up outside Indhuja's residence, the family hesitated. But Aakash persisted, claiming he only wanted to speak to Indhuja for a few minutes.

(Read the full story here.)

3. Nokia to Produce 5G AirScale Base Stations in Oragadam

Nokia will start production of 5G AirScale base stations that offer higher capacity for telecom service providers at its Oragadam facility near here. The Finnish major had tested and manufactured the new product in small numbers at its plant in Finland. However, ‘mass production’ will happen at Oragadam factory. Shipment of new product will commence in a week, said its Chief Operating Officer Monika Maurer.

The multi-band base station will meet growing domestic and global demand for mobile broadband and also support Indian government’s Make in India vision. By 2020, there will be 46 billion devices fuelling demand for mobile broadband. This will create greater need for energy-efficient and compact AirScale broadband base station offering huge capacity and connectivity, a company press release said.

(Source: The Hindu Business Line)

4. Villivakkam Lake Loses 177 Acres to Encroachments

The Chennai Corporation will develop floating gardens in the Villivakkam lake as part of the eco-restoration of the waterbody. According to a study, a number of houses, commercial buildings and industries have been developed in 83 percent of the lake area, reducing the waterbody to 36.34 acres. In 1972, the lake had an area of 214 acres.

The existing boundaries of the lake include Jawaharlal Nehru Road and Padi Railway Station on the west, residential areas on the north, Chennai-Tiruvallur High Road on the south and SIDCO Nagar Industrial Estate on the east. In addition to encroachments by private agencies, Chennai Metrowater is using 11.5 acres of the lake for operating its sewer network. The Corporation will have just 24.84 acres for the eco-restoration project, said an official. The study by the Corporation has pointed to dumping of construction debris in the lake, unauthorised settlements, railway line, high tension line and weed growth as challenges to eco-restoration.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. Smart Card Distribution Will End by December: Kamaraj

Food Minister R Kamaraj who claimed that the state was fairing smarter than every other state in the country in terms of implementing the Public Distribution System (PDS) said the state will complete the issue of smart cards by mid-December. It will cover 22 lakh family cards while it had already issued smart cards to 1.72 crore family cards.

On corrections to be made on smart cards, Kamaraj observed that it was natural for minor hiccups while rolling out ambitious schemes such as issue of smart cards, and that they would be addressed in a day or two if brought to the notice of the respective officials. To a query on the lack of transparency in addressing online grievances, the Minister defended the system stating that every complaint raised was given a solution and the same was being circulated by SMS. “There could be stray incidents, and that too would be addressed,” he added.

(Source: DTNext)

6. Advocates Must Produce Photos While Filing Cases, Rules High Court

After unearthing a fraud played upon the court by a group of litigants who had filed multiple anticipatory bail applications at the same time, the Madras High Court on Tuesday laid down new procedures requiring the advocates-on-record to submit their photographs, for scanning by the Registry, while filing cases.

Justice S Vaidyanathan ordered that if the anticipatory bail applications were filed in petition format, the advocate-on-record should sign in all the pages of the petition, and if the anticipatory bail petitions were filed in the affidavit format, the person who is attesting the affidavit shall sign in all the pages. “In either case, the name of the advocate/attesting person should be written/affixed in capital letters mentioning his place of qualification, enrolment number and cell phone number. The photograph of the advocates-on-record and that of the advocate, who attests the vakalat, shall form part of the vakalat and the registry shall scan the vakalat so filed.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Work on Travelator at Chennai Airport to Begin This Week

Nearly seven years after it was proposed, the work to install a travelator connecting the domestic and international terminals will begin this week. It will take about 8 weeks to install this facility and is likely to open to public by February next year. This will be located right outside the terminals (city side of the airport).

It is estimated to cost Rs 40 crore. Of this, Rs 25 crore will be spent on civil work and Rs 15 crore for installation of this facility, he added. The travelator was originally a part of the phase I modernisation project for Chennai airport, but it was dropped from the project for various reasons. Though the officials planned to revive it later, it had been delayed.

(Source: The Hindu)