1. Gutkha Worth ₹25 Lakh Seized from Godown in Nemilichery
Based on information provided by a trader dealing in gutkha products, a city police team raided a godown in Nemilichery on Friday and seized gutkha products worth more than ₹25 lakh. The consignments were stacked in small bags ready for delivery.
The consignment was brought from Bengaluru by road to Koyambedu before being moved by smaller vehicles, under the pretext of supplying water cans. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Adyar) G. Shashank Sai and his team got the tip after their raids on East Coast Road and the trader directed them to the operators of the water bottling unit. Investigation is on to trace the supplier and supply network.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. ‘Return Temple Elephant Masini to Original Habitat’, Seeks Petition to Madras HC
Months after Masini, the 11-year-old female elephant made headlines for trampling her mahout to death at the Samayapuram Mariamman Temple in Trichy district, Tamil Nadu, a petition now seeks her return to the wild. In a petition moved by Chennai-based animal activist Antony Clement Rubin, he appealed to the Department of Environment and Forests to take steps to permanently shift Masini to her original habitat in Theppakadu Mudumalai Camp in the Nilgiris.
In his petition, Antony states that Masini had developed a strong bond with other elephants at the Theppakadu Camp, where she was raised for nine years. This bond, he says, was broken once she was isolated from her herd and shifted to the temple.
(Source: The News Minute)
3. A Petty Crime, a Fatal Accident, and a Murder
In a strange sequence of events in Chennai on Thursday evening, three teenagers who were fleeing on a scooter after snatching a pedestrian’s phone rammed into a truck. One of them died in the accident. This enraged the other two so much that they allegedly murdered the truck driver on the spot, and then motorists passing by, caught them and handed them over to the police.The bodies of Sukumar and Mani were sent to Stanley Government College Hospital for post-mortem.
Mani and the 17-year-old have been detained. They were involved in many chain-snatching and phone-snatching cases. They have been booked under IPC Section 392 (punishment for robbery) and 302 (murder).
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Krishna Water for Chennai Likely to Be Released Today
After water from the Veeranam tank, Chennai will get another source to augment its drinking water supply in a few days. Krishna water is likely to be released from the Kandaleru reservoir in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. This comes at a time when storage in the city’s major reservoirs has dipped to less than 10% and may last only for a month.
A team of officials from Chennai Metrowater plan to travel to the Kandaleru reservoir on Saturday. The water body, in Andhra Pradesh, has been receiving a steady inflow from the Somasila reservoir located upstream. The storage has gone up to 8.4 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) in the Kandaleru reservoir, which is considered adequate to discharge water.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. Teen Tries to Replicate Fire Blowing Stunt, Dies
In a terrible mishap, a 16-year-old boy died in the early hours of Friday here, after attempting a stunt he had learnt on the internet. Police identified the victim as E Jeberson, son of Edwin, a caterer and a resident of Iyyanchery in Guduvanchery. The teen, for a long time had been fascinated with fire blowing events and other such stunts, which involved fire and petrol had watched such stunts on the internet, police sources said.
On Thursday, Jeberson, after watching one such video, decided to attempt one such stunt and removed some petrol from his father’s bike for the purpose. Later, he went back into the house and poured the petrol into his mouth and went on to light a fire, and blow the petrol on to the fire, when the petrol caught fire. It burnt his face instantly, and the boy fell down groaning in pain. He died the next morning.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
6. Rs 30.5 Lakh Smuggled Gold Seized in Chennai International Airport
Customs officials at the Chennai international airport here, on Thursday, detected four cases of gold smuggling worth Rs 30.5 lakh. According to airport sources, officials detained Karthick (45) after finding gold weighing 350 grams stitched to his suit; Arokyiam, who had concealed the gold pieces in key chains which he brought from Malaysia. In the third case, officials searched a passenger named Praveen, who arrived on a flight from Dubai on the wee hours of Friday, and found a gold chain weighing 300 grams kept in a sweet box.
In another incident, customs officials stopped Mohammed Hussain and Ashraf who had Rs 5 lakh worth Saudi currency Riyal, in a hidden column in their baggage. All the five were detained and a total of Rs 30.5 lakh smuggled gold was seized from them.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
7. 55,000 Tons of Imported Sand Put up for Online Booking by TN Govt
The Tamil Nadu government, on Friday, opened bookings for the online sale of the stock of imported sand kept at the Thoothukudi port. In its website, the TN government has displayed a notice, listing the prices per unit of sand that was imported from Malaysia. One unit of sand is priced at Rs 9,990 while five units are priced at Rs 49,950. The website also mentions that sand will be sold to anybody who books it online, irrespective of which state the buyer belongs to.
The bookings can be made through the website and also through the TN Sand Mobile app. This marks the end of a dispute between the Tamil Nadu government and a private company from Pudukkottai, which is the importer of the sand from Malaysia.
(Source: The News Minute )
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