The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Briefly

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Saturday, Jan 08, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Briefly

Search forfour

By Our Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN JAN. 7. The police have intensified the search for one Navin Raj and three accomplices, who stole valuables from a hotel in Tiruchendur recently.

The foursome occupied rooms at the hotel on January 5 and on the early hours of Thursday, they decamped with a television set, stabilizers, bed sheets and few other hotel property from the rooms.

A case was registered at Tiruchendur Temple police station and the case is under investigation.

Theft at IMFL retail outlet

By Our Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN JAN. 7. Police are on the look out for some unidentified persons, who burgled a TASMAC-run retail outlet at Kovilpatti on the wee hours of Thursday.

According to a complaint filed by Kombaiah, the supervisor of the wine shop, Rs. 10, 224 was found missing from the locker kept inside the shop.

Kovilpatti East police are investigating the case.

Man arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN JAN. 7 . Karuppasamy (35) was arrested on Thursday on the charge of indulging in various anti-social activities at Kovilpatti.

Police said he had earlier served jail sentence for murdering two persons in 1997.

Cyclist killed

By Our Staff Reporter

TUTICORIN JAN. 7. A cyclist, Kumar (17), was fatally knocked down by a speeding lorry at Kovilpatti on Thursday. Kovilpatti West police arrested the lorry driver, Pandian.

Farmer held for killing elephant

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUNELVELI JAN. 7. The forest personnel have arrested a farmer for killing a wild elephant by erecting an electric fence.

According to the District Forest Officer, H. Venu Prasad, the she elephant, aged about 25 years, was killed on the spot four days ago when it accidentally touched the electric fence with three-phase intensity, which was reportedly put up by Thalamalai (40) of Devipattinam under the Sivagiri Forest Range. In a bid to cover-up the incident, he put the animal in a crater in his farm with the help of some people of the same area.

Besides filling the pit with sand, he also stacked firewood and other sticks on it to make it look like `watcher's shed.' Based on a tip-off, the forest personnel raided the farm and found the dead animal.

Thalamalai was arrested on Thursday night and remanded to custody.

Entrance test deferred

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JAN. 7. The Tamil Nadu Open University has postponed the B.Ed. entrance examination slated for January 9 to January 23 following representations from candidates in coastal areas ravaged by tsunami.

The candidates can use hall tickets already received, says a release from the Vice-Chancellor, M.S. Palanichamy.

Special train to Hubli

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JAN. 7. A weekly special train will be operated between Chennai Central and Hubli from January 9 to March 27. The special (train 0652) will leave Central at 2 p.m. on all Sundays and reach Hubli at 6.15 a.m. the next day. In the return direction it will leave Hubli at 8.50 p.m. on all Saturdays and arrive here at 1.10 p.m. the next day.

It will have one AC two-tier, one AC three-tier, eight second sleeper, four general second class and two luggage-cum-brake van coaches. Advance reservation is available, according to a railway release.

Krishnasamy acquitted

By Our Staff Reporter

Tuticorin Jan. 7. T. Mohandas, judge, Fast Track Court-2, today acquitted the Puthiya Tamizhagam leader, K. Krishnasamy, and two others in a murder case.

Dr. Krishnasamy, Suresh and Ramesh were booked under Sections 302 (murder), 212 (harbouring the offender) and 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code following the September 19, 1977 murder of Muthukrishnan, a teacher, at Naraikinaru near here.

The prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt, the judge said.

The verdict was pronounced amid tight police security outside the court. All visitors were screened.

Dr. Krishnasamy later told mediapersons that ``justice was done''.

Inspection after January 14

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JAN. 7. The Income Tax (IT) department has acceded to the request of the Guruvayur Devaswom to defer to any day after January 14 the inspection of the gold crown offered by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, to the Sri Krishna Temple in July 2001.

"We will certainly go ahead with the physical inspection. There is no pressure from the temple authorities or anyone on the IT department not to do it. The Devaswom authorities have sought time in writing and we have accepted it graciously as there was a death in the family of the temple administrator", highly placed department sources told The Hindu here today.

Teacher suspended

By Our Staff Reporter

Coimbatore Jan.7. The Corporation Commissioner, Anil Meshram, has placed M. Nirmala Devi, a teacher of the Siddhapudur Corporation Higher Secondary School, under suspension pending inquiry on a complaint that a Standard XI student, T. Ananthakumar, committed suicide following alleged harassment.

According to Corporation sources, Ananthakumar, jumped before a train near Avarampalayam on Wednesday. It was alleged that the boy was depressed because of the alleged ``scolding" by his teacher after he failed in a couple of subjects. It is stated that the teacher insisted that boy bring his father to the school.

The Corporation Education Officer, W. Robert Karunakaran, is conducting an inquiry into the incident.

Meagre inflow into Mettur dam

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGAPATTINAM JAN. 7. The Mettur reservoir received a meagre inflow of 333 cusecs this evening. The level stood at 77.35 feet (full level 120 feet) with a discharge of 11,252 cusecs. The storage was 39.36 tmcft (full capacity 93.4 tmcft).

From the Grand Anaicut, the supply remained suspended. The Vennar, the Grand Anaicut Canal and the Coleroon were getting a supply of 4,421, 2,017 and 828 cusecs respectively.

Tuticorin port performance

By Our Staff Reporter

Tuticorin Jan. 7. The Tuticorin Port Trust ( TPT) has handled 25.53 lakh tones of cargo between November 1 and December 31, 2004, against 19.78 lakh tonnes handled during the corresponding period in 2003.

N.K. Raghupathy , chairman, today said that 13.14 lakh tonnes was handled in November alone, 50.86 per cent hike over the figures recorded in November 2003.

Imports accounted for 10.22 lakh tonnes in November and 9.07 lakh tonnes in December, showing a 60.19 and 17.03 percentage increase respectively.

The port handled 20, 989 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and 23,374 TEUs of containers during November and December last year. This was an increase of 5.84 and 10.39 percentage respectively.

Mr. Raghupathy said the port handled 117.46 lakh tonnes of cargo between April and December last year against 102.27 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period in the previous year.

The estimated loss of cargo traffic stands at one lakh tonnes, following the suspension of cargo handling for two days in the last week of December soon after tsunami struck the coast.

The average pre-berthing time during April to December 2004 stood at 0.07 days. However, following heavy rain and tsunami, the average turn round time increased to 2.24 days against 1.99 days recorded between April-December, 2003.

The output per berth a day between April and December 2004, was 5,276 tonnes against 4,913 tonnes of last year.

No power

By Our Staff Reporter

Dharmapuri Jan.7. There will be no power supply in the following areas on January 8 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. owing to maintenance work at the Raamiyanhalli sub-station: Kadathur, Odasalpatti, Kathirnaickanhalli, Vedarampatti, Chindalpadi, Denkaraikottai, Paraiyapatti, Bommidi, Thurinjipatti, Payarnatham, Pallipatti, Pappireddipatti and surrounding areas.

Body found

By Our Staff Reporter

Dharmapuri Jan. 7. A mutilated body of an unidentified woman aged around 35 was found on a railway track near here on Thursday.

The police said that the body had been sent for post-mortem.

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