1. TTV Dhinakaran’s Kin Divaharan Launches New Party
A new political party, ‘Anna Dravidar Kazhagam’ (ADK), was launched in Chennai on Sunday, 10 June, by TTV Dhinakaran’s maternal uncle, Divaharan, the young brother of V K Sasikala, confidante of late J Jayalalithaa. Divaharan introduced the ADK’s tri-coloured flag with red band on top, white at the bottom and black stripe on the side with a star in the middle of the flag, at a brief function at Mannargudi near Tiruvarur.
Divaharan told newsmen that the party’s policy is to fight money power in elections, to give more chances for youth in contesting elections and to make party-men feel that they are at once “Tamils, Dravidians and Indians”. This apart, the party would give priority to water storage, protection of the environment and work for gender parity. He ruled out the possibility of his party merging with the parent party, AIADMK, at least for now. He said in the last few years, agriculture operations in the delta region was severely affected and urged the State government to take suitable action to help utilise locally available water resources.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
2. Seven Held for Sexual Assaulting Class 10 Girl
The Tiruvallur police on Sunday, 10 June, detained seven men for sexually assaulting a Class 10 student and said they were searching for at least seven more people, including juveniles, in this connection. The girl was sent to a government hospital for medical examination and later taken to an observation home, a police officer said. The accused will be booked under the Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and arrested, he added. “We have detained them to get more details into the incident,” he said.
A police officer said the girl had become friendly with a boy in her class who allegedly got her to taking liquor and ganja (marijuana) regularly and then a few other men, all between the ages of 18 and 20. The girl told the police that all the men, including her classmate, sexually abused her every time they gave her drugs and liquor. Police officers took the call record details of the girl’s phone and made her speak to the suspects. As told, the girl requested the seven people to meet her at a designated spot where a special police team picked them up. The police got details of the others involved in the crime from the seven they had detained and have launched a search. They are also checking to see if any more of the girl’s classmates were involved.
(Source: The Times of India)
3. Five City Students in Top 100 Ranks of JEE (Advanced)
Five students from Chennai have secured ranks within the top 100 in the JEE (Advanced) exam, which will enable them to get admission into an Indian Institute of Technology (IITs). A student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir, P Girinath, has secured the 51st rank. “I’m very keen on studying in IIT-Madras and hope to pursue either electrical or mechanical engineering,” he said.
Stating that while he had started with coaching in Class 7, he had been a part of the integrated programme of the FIITJEE. R Raghu Raman, who has secured the 56th rank, said that for the first time this year, the JEE (Advanced) was fully online. “It was important that we got to know the online pattern ahead of the exam since many of us did take the offline test for JEE(Mains). We did several online practice exams and students taking up the exam this year too should familiarise themselves with the format,” he said. As many as 18,138 candidates have qualified in the JEE (Advanced) after scoring above the cut-off and a total of 11,279 seats are being offered in the IITs across the country. This is an increase of 291 seats compared to last year.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. NLC Officer’s Body Found After Two Months, ‘Friends’ Arrested for Murder
Never part with your ATM pin number to anyone, however close the person might be, is the warning sounded repeatedly by banks and the government in cautioning the public about ATM frauds. A 55-year-old HR executive working in the public sector NLC paid with his life for ignoring this warning and giving his ATM card to his friend, along with the PIN number, for withdrawing money to buy their next bottle of booze, according to a source.
Police said Ashok Kumar, working as an HR executive, had gone missing on April 23. The first clue came after the family found almost Rs 19 lakh had disappeared from his SBI account since the time he went missing by the use of his debit card. Police investigators examined CCTV footages, following which Ashok's three friends were spotted making trips to the ATM machine and withdrawing money. Intense interrogation cracked the suspects and they confessed to killing Ashok after feeding him with liquor and stealing his ATM card.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
5. M-Sand Not a Feasible Alternative, Says Association
As sand crunch continues to haunt the real estate industry of Chennai and the government is directing the industry players towards Manufactured Sand (M-Sand), Tamil Nadu Sand lorry Owner’s Federation has called for action against its quality. “The strength of the sand is comparatively weaker as it requires to be washed with water before using and the current water shortage does not support the move,” said the association president, S Yuvaraj, also urging the State to provide necessary infrastructure and subsidies to bring down the price of M-sand. Currently, two units of M-sand cost Rs 10,800 and river sand stands at Rs 1,080 for two units.
Also, After the Tamil Nadu government started online sale of sand in a bid to ease the bottlenecks in supply and check exorbitant costs, business-parched private players switched to gravel, fine sand and other minerals used for construction and the fancy prices have affected the industry players.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
6. 19 Bikers Booked for Overspeeding
The city police detained 19 bikers on the charges of rash driving on the Thiru Vi Ka bridge in Adyar during the early hours of Sunday, 10 June. Six police personnel from the Abhiramapuram police station were conducting vehicle checks near the Durgabhai Deshmukh Road in Adyar. Around 1 am on Sunday, the police found youngsters, in groups of four and five, riding their bikes in a rash manner.
Nineteen bikers were intercepted and the police found that they were from areas such as Red Hills, Madhavaram, Perambur and other parts of Chennai. “Some of them were college students and a few others were employed. During questioning, we found that they were not racing, but were riding the bikes fast for fun,” said a senior police officer. Their bikes were detained and a case was registered against them.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. Hearts Too Get Stolen Here Amid Mound of Books
It is not often that a bibliophile gets to be awestruck. ‘Bookchor’ works to bring such moments into the lives of those who are passionate about books. Their ‘lock-the-box’ warehouse sale in Chennai went on for three days and proved fascinating for book lovers.
“We did not expect this kind of overwhelming response from Chennai,” says 24-year-old Alok Raj Sharma, one of the co-founders of Bookchor. Lock -the-box sale is a unique idea where a reader can buy any of the three boxes; Odysseus, Perseus and Hercules. The Odysseus box can fit 8-10 books and costs Rs 999. The Perseus box costs Rs 1,499 and can hold between 15-17 books. The largest, the Hercules box, is a Herculean task to carry, as it costs Rs 2,499 and can hold 30 books, depending on how well you can pack.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
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