1. INX Media Case: Karti Chidambaram Sent to 1-Day Police Custody
Delhi's Patiala House Court on Wednesday, 28 February, sent Karti Chidambaram to one-day police custody in the INX Media money laundering case. The CBI, however, had sought a 15-day custody in its remand application.
Forty-six-year-old Karti was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand and the CBI sought his custodial interrogation for 15 days claiming that he was not cooperating in the probe. When Karti was brought to the Patiala House district court premises and was taken to the court room, he told the media, “It is absolutely a political vendetta. I will be vindicated.”
Read the full story here.
2. Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswati Passes Away, Last Rites Today
The senior seer of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Sri Jayendra Saraswati, passed away at the age of 82, on Wednesday, 28 February. The seer reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest, which led to his demise.
His followers wept as the body of the Shankaracharya (pontiff) was placed at a vantage spot in the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. "He was the jagatguru (guru of the world)," a distraught devotee said. Police personnel were regulating the crowd which grew by the minute, as followers gathered for a last glimpse of the 69th Acharya of the mutt.
Read the full story here.
3. New Films Not to Release from 1 March
Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council as already announced will go on strike from 1 March. Reconfirming the announcement that they had already made they have released a statement saying, “The decision has been taken keeping in mind the benefits of film industries from five different states. No new films will be released from March 1 as announced earlier. We would like to inform our members that until the next announcement comes from us there won’t be any new film releases and the strike will continue.”
It can be noted that in the last meet, the digital service producers offered to reduce the fee by a marginal percentage, which didn’t go well with film producers’ council of different film industries.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Former SC Judge Ratnavel Pandian Dies
Former Supreme Court judge S Ratnavel Pandian died due to cardiac arrest at his residence in Anna Nagar in Chennai on Wednesday, 28 February. He was 89. A multi-faceted personality who tried his hands in politics before entering the legal profession, he is survived by five sons, including Justice R Subbiah, a sitting judge of the Madras High Court, and a daughter.
Interestingly, Pandian had a stint in the DMK. He unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election in 1962 from Ambasamudram. Nine years later, he entered the electoral fray again from Cheranmahadevi and lost by a thin margin, which compelled him to quit politics. He was then the DMK secretary of the undivided Tirunelveli district.
(Source: The Hindu)
5. Nine Children Found Illegally Housed at Paleswaram Hospice
Nine children were found to be housed illegally at the St Joseph’s Hospice in Paleswaram, Kancheepuram district. After an incident in which the body of an inmate who had expired was sent in a grocery van attracted public attention, an inspection at the home revealed documents were not in order. Many of the inmates were relocated to other homes.
Officials of the Department of Social Welfare and Nutritious Meal Programme were stunned to find that the children, along with a caretaker, were living on the premises of a hospice, meant to take care of people in the last stage of their life. The department is in the process of relocating the children. Four of these children were below the age of five. Officials said that by housing children below the age of five, the management had violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.
(Source: The Hindu)
6. ED Arrests Subhiksha Founder in ₹790 Crore Bank Fraud Case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chennai, on Wednesday, 28 February, arrested R Subramanian, promoter and managing director of Subhiksha Trading Services Limited, in a bank fraud case. He was booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
The company founded by Subramanian operated retail chains under the brand Subhiksha. However, the outlets were closed due to financial problems. Subramanian was earlier charge-sheeted in a bank fraud case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (Bank Security & Fraud Cell), Bengaluru, for defrauding Bank of Baroda, Corporate Financial Services Branch, Chennai, to the tune of ₹77 crore.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. PIL Alleges Illegal Arrests by Andhra Pradesh Police in TN
A PIL petition has been filed in the Madras High Court accusing Andhra Pradesh police of having entered Tamil Nadu and arrested around 500 people last year without following any of the 11 guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.
P Pugalenthi, director, Prisoners’ Rights Forum, a private body based in Chennai, filed the case. He alleged that the police from the neighbouring State arrested the people on various charges, detaining them in secluded locations and obtaining confessions through force and coercion without even intimating the local police.
In an affidavit filed through his counsel M Radhakrishnan, the petitioner said: “The persons so arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police are not being dealt with in accordance with law. It is reliably learnt that the Andhra Pradesh police never identified as police-on-duty while arresting those 500 persons without warrant.”
(Source: The Hindu)
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