Tattoo Helps Police Trace Man’s Killers

01st August 2014

Tattoos on a man’s charred body led to the arrest of his alleged murderers,  as they had left behind no evidence at the scene of crime which was committed seven months ago.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) proved to be a successful tool in cracking the case.

The seven month-long investigation into the murder of the unidentified man in Kurusilapet police station came to an end on Wednesday after the police made an extra-judicial arrest of a 20-year-old youth Prabakaran of Perumapet village in Tirupattur taluk. 

Apprehending arrest, the youth surrendered before Tirupattur Tahsildar and confessed to murdering the 24-year-old habitual offender Mohammed Riyas, a resident of Rajakadai in Tiruvottiyur, Chennai.

He also revealed that Riyas’s partner-in-crime Imran Sheriff(25) had hatched the murder plot. He was killed in a road accident in Namakkal within three weeks after they murdered Riyas.

The murder of an unidentified man was reported on January 1 and the body was found in the forest area near Jalagambarai Falls. “There were stab and cut injuries on the chest and throat. The murderers burnt the victim’s  face to conceal his identity. So, we preserved the bones for a DNA test,” Superintendent of Police of Vellore P Vijaya Kumar told Express.

The tattoos of two names- A Sugunya and A Swetha- on the chest and hand of the deceased were uploaded onto the CCTNS. But, there were not matching with man-missing cases reported till then.

The investigation team, using the tailor’s tag on the shirt of the deceased, traced and located the tailor at Ennore near Chennai. However, it was not  helpful to the investigations. The voters’ list was also checked for names of Sugunya and Swetha. “A few names cropped up. But none of their relatives went missing,” said the SP.

A week ago, the State Crime Record Bureau alerted the Vellore police that one Sugunya had filed a man-missing case of her husband in Tiruvottiyur Police Station on July 12. The identification marks given by her were matching with the data uploaded onto the CCTNS by Vellore police. The police also said Riyas and his associate Sheriff of Namakkal were involved in several chain-snatching cases.

The Vellore police immediately rushed to Chennai and inquired Sugunya. “She said her husband Riyas was last seen on December 29 last year. His phone was also switched off since then. He left the house saying that he was going to meet Sheriff,” said Inspector I Gopalakrishnan, who is the investigation officer of the case.

Thinking that her husband had been arrested in the chain-snatching cases, she and her family members did not approach the police. The investigation again hit a road-block when the police learnt that Sheriff was killed in a road accident on January 16 in Namakkal.   After checking the call logs of Sheriff and Riyas, the police launched a search for Prabakaran. “Finally, he surrendered fearing police arrest,” said the IO.

On interrogation, he disclosed that Sheriff and Riyas had a dispute over sharing of around 20 sovereigns of jewels they had as spoils. “Sheriff decided to murder Riyas after he demanded major share of the jewels. So, he decided to put an end to Riyas. He plotted the murder and took him to Jalagambarai under the pretext of celebrating New Year. After giving him excess liquor, the two murdered him and burnt his face pouring petrol,” said the official.

Girls booked for killing molester dad let off

J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 12th April 2012 02:08 AM

Last Updated: 16th May 2012

VELLORE: After years of experiencing sexual harassment from her own father, a teenage girl and her sister were pushed to strangulate him to death two days ago at Asanellikuppam village near Arakkonam. After initially booking them on charges of murder, the police later went on to alter the case and let them free. “It was homicide, but not amounting to murder. The incident occurred in a pure sense of self-defence. We will submit a report to the court and the court will decide on further course of action,” said IG P (North Zone) C Sylendra Babu.

“My sister was a victim of sexual harassment in the hands of our father for so many years. We tried to advise him and even dissuaded him from drinking, but he did not listen to us,” said 18-year-old Radha.

Radha along with 19-year-old Mala, strangled their father Mohan (38), a coolie, on Monday morning around 9.30 am in front of their mother Vidhya.

“We were chatting with our mother without knowing what was going to happen in our life in the next few minutes. Our father came home drunk and pounced on our sister and tried to harass her sexually. She tried to stop him by putting her dupatta around his neck and pushed him, but he resisted. Unable to witness the misery of my sister we strangled him using the dupatta,” she said.

Radha said that whenever he came home drunk, her sister faced unbearable psychological and physical assault.

“He used to bite her and harass her sexually. Monday’s incident was the height of this plight and the pressure which had mounted for all these years,” she added.

The teenage girls along with their mother had even lodged a complaint with Arakkonam All Women Police Station against on August 29 last year stating that Mohan assaulted them frequently. “We enquired on the same day and counselled Mohan not to assault his daughters and wife. In fact, I spotted a bite mark on the shoulder of the elder daughter and asked her about it. But she said Mohan had bitten her in a drunken state,” said Inspector J Kalaiarasi.

“After Monday’s incident, the girls said that they did not reveal the harassment as it would spoil their future and cause great humiliation,” the inspector noted.

(The names of the victim, her sister and mother have been changed to protect their identity) 

Ayanavaram ACP, 7 Others Get Jail for Torture

J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 21st October 2014 06:03 AM

Last Updated: 21st October 2014

VELLORE: Seven serving policemen, including an Assistant Commissioner, and a retired Special Sub-inspector were awarded six-month imprisonment on Monday for illegally keeping a 40-year-old man in custody and assaulting him in Ambur Town Police Station in 2005.

The Additional District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate Court in Ambur, however, suspended the sentence for a period of one month under Section 389(3) of CrPc and let them out on bail.

The case was filed by J Ranganathan of Perumal Koil Street in Ambur, who had gone to the station to enquire about his brother, against then HC Krishnamoorthy, Sub-Inspector Venkatesan, Inspector A Abdullah, and constables Manoharan, Umpathy, Pandian, Rajkumar and Srinivasan.  Manoharan later retired as a Special Sub-inspector while the other seven are serving at various sub-divisions in the State.

Abdullah is the Assistant Commissioner of Ayanavaram sub-division in Greater Chennai.

Pronouncing the judgment, Magistrate R A S Anada Raj awarded six-month imprisonment to all eight accused and slapped a fine of `1,000 on each of them under sections 147 (rioting) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt).

Under Section 341, the judge slapped a fine of `500 on the constables. A fine of `1000 and additional one-month imprisonment on Abdullah under Section 427, said Ranganathan’s advocate Vellore G Srinivasan. The term would be served concurrently. A compensation of `10,000 was to be given by the accused. 

The case was filed under Section 200 of CrPC in September 2005. Ranganathan’s advocate said he would approach the higher court after getting a copy of the verdict as there “no punishment under Section 506 (i) was handed to the policemen”.

Prison officials attached to the Ambur sub-jail and Dr Nagaraj of Ambur Government Hospital were the key witnesses against the police personnel in the case. 

Calling the judgment as a medicine for his humiliation, J Ranganathan (54) said, “I am happy to hear the judgement today.” 

Ranganathan said, “I was brutally attacked by the policemen for questioning their wrongdoing,” adding they had approached him several times and pleaded to withdraw the case. But, he remained firm, hoping for justice.

Operation Malai: Two rogue jumbos sedated and chained

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | 

TIRUVANNAMALAI 28th August 2013

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  The elephant herd running in panic, after tranquilliser shots were fired; and (right) a veterinarian with a gun and a team of forest officials watch the operation near Pennaiyar Reserve Forest. (Express Photo)

The country’s first major operation of tranquilising and translocating  an elephant herd kickstarted on Tuesday. The forest officials with the help of a team of eight veterinarians tranquillised the matriarch and a tusker on the first day of the operation ‘Malai’ taken up at a cost of `73 lakh.

Forest officials engaged three kumki elephants - Vijay, Sajay and Waheem - to guard the tranquilised jumbos, and chain them inside the forest area.

A senior forest official said they planned to tranquillise the sub-adults of the herd first and later dart the tusker, which is nicknamed Othaikomban as it has a single tusk, and the matriarch. However, it did not go as they planned.

“The things happened on Tuesday were quite contrary to our original plan. We planned to tranquillise the sub-adults first and dart the tusker and the matriarch after that. We drafted this plan as the sub-adults will panic without the matriarch that will guide the herd,” said a senior forest official.

However, the four young elephants remained with the matriarch after they were sedated. Though the young elephants delayed the forest officials from chaining the matriarch, they did not react violently.

The forest officials are using tranquilliser gun, which has a range of 50 to 60 feet, to inject the drug to sedate.

“We used silencer in the tranquilliser guns as the shooting sound will cause panic to the pachyderms,” said the official. 

Initially, the forest officials planned to drive the herd to the Central-State Seed Farm in Melchengam and execute operation ‘Malai’. However, they altered the plan and shifted the operation to the present location after the elephant herd started camping at Pennaiyar reserved forest since Friday.

“After tranquillising the entire herd, we will decide where to take the jumbos,” said Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Malkani.

The mother elephant, which was tranquilised as part of the operation was later spotted nearly 2 km inside the forest.

“The female elephant was in a drowsy condition. The effect of the drug will remain effective for two hours,”  said Conservator of Forests, Vellore Circle Kalayana Sundaram said.

Malkani, who led the operation, said, “We have chained the two elephants that have been tranquilised in their present locations. Four other sub-adult jumbos are staying with the mother elephant.”

He added that they would continue the operation on Wednesday and tranquilise the rest of the herd. The veterinarians would reach the forest and dart the sub-adults while sitting on top of kumki elephants.

“We will transport the elephants at one go from here after tranquilising the entire herd,” he said.

The forest officials have also deployed about 50 of its personnel inside the forest area, besides engaging elephant trackers to monitor the rest of the herd.

Live Ammo Seized After Boy Stumbles on it at War Vet Hut

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 12th January 2015 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 12th January 2015 

TIRUVANNAMALAI: The Tiruvannamalai police have seized a total of 30 live bullet rounds from a 15-year-old school student in Ananthapuram village panchayat at  Kannamangalam, after the boy apparently flaunted it at school. They confiscated the ammunition after the panchayat president alerted them on Sunday.

The bullets found in war veteran’s hut at Ananthapuram

The police seized 26 bullets of 9 mm pistol and four bullets of 7.62 Self Loading Rifle (SLR) from Ram (name changed), a Class X student of a government school in the village. Fearing arrest, Ram allegedly provided wrong information that he and his friend Vijay (name changed)found the ammunition in the Ananthapuram foothills. This put the police on high alert, besides initiating a combing operation to find out if there were anti-socials hiding in the area. The search ended after the boy disclosed that he took the ammunition from war veteran Vinayagam’s abandoned thatched hut a week ago. The octogenarian had died in September last. “The boy got the bullets from Vinayagam’s hut on the outskirts of the village. The bullets were made in 1963 and 1964,” said Tiruvannamalai SP J Mutharasi.

Vinayagam had stocked the ammunition in a small container along with other items in his uniform. His son Krishnamurthy (55), who was also an ex-serviceman, was unaware about the ammunition in the hut. The boys had ventured into the hut while hunting a squirrel, found the bullets and took it with them, said the SP. A police team lead by inspector Arivazhagan, found the bullets in the hut when they went to confirm Ram’s claim. “It is not permitted to stock ammunition even for ex-servicemen unless the person obtains a licence,” said a police officer.

The ammunition in Ram’s possession came to light after he went to school wearing a bullet tied to a chain like a locket on Saturday. “The boy had showed some of the live bullets to his friends. One of his friends told me that Ram had bullets and had brought them to school,” said panchayat president M Santhamoorthi. The Kannamangalam police registered a case and let off the boys after a stern warning.

Red Wood Fellers Fall for Easy Money Bait

Vellore/Tiruvannamalai

 11th August 2014 

Ignoring grave threat to their lives, hundreds of tribal youth from Jawadhu Hills in Tiruvannamalai continue to sneak into red sanders-rich Seshachalam Reserve Forest (RF) in Andhra Pradesh for cutting the precious logs.

Sources said that in the last 69 days, a total of eight persons, all aged between 25 and 40, have been gunned down in the Seshachalam RF in five encounters with the Special Task Force (STF).

The series of encounters began on May 29 this year. The STF opened fire on a group of woodcutters in the thick forest, killing Venkatesan (27), Vijayakanth (25) and Siva (28) of Athimur on the spot. The most recent encounter was on August 6 in which armed personnel gunned down A Mani (30) of Chinnamanchur and V Ramasamy (37) of Melnadanur at Gadela. On August 2 and July 30, two persons were shot dead at Kalyani Dam and Balapalli forest. In the third week of June, an STF team opened fire on a group of 50 woodcutters. In the melee, S Veeramani (40) of Vinayagapuram was killed.

The personnel are  forced to open fire in self-defence when the smugglers refuse to surrender and attack them, said a police officer attached to the STF. He added that there were still over 500 woodcutters camping deep inside the forest.

A team led by the Chittoor DSP along with the Tiruvannamalai district police on July 7 held a meeting with elders and youth in a tribal village in Jamunamarathur. “The meeting was aimed at sensitising the tribals on the legal issues and risks involved in red sander smuggling. But it was in vain,” said a police officer.

So, why are the tribals falling for it? Blame it on the “quick and easy” money. Several youth from Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district, Salem and Kallakurichi in Villupuram district have also been roped in for red wood smuggling. They are engaged in cutting trees, trimming them into small pieces and loading them in vehicles for transport to Chennai. “The logs are smuggled to Southeast Asian countries from Chennai,” said a police officer with the STF.

“They are paid anything between `500 and `800 per kg of red sanders for chopping, trimming and loading. They have to carry the logs for nearly 20 km to the loading point,” said a police officer. After working for two weeks, the youth return with anything around `50,000. The huge amount has also attracted those as young as 17.

“The agents promise `5 lakh as compensation to the family if the person does not return within 21 days. The family members are aware about the risks, but never stop their sons and fathers,” said a police officer in Polur.

Pvt Colleges in Vellore Force SC/ST Students To Pay Fees

VELLORE,

Jan 6, 2015

 Private educational institutions in the district, completely disregarding a Government Order, have been forcing students belonging to SC/ST communities to pay tuition and examination fees and several of them have not been allowed to appear for the examination over non-payment of the fees.

The failure of authorities to act promptly has given a free hand to the institutions to harass the students demanding that they pay the fee in contravention of the GO of June 2012.

The GO  says the institution should not collect fees from the students of SC/ST communities and the same would be paid to the institution by the respective district Adi Dravidar welfare officer after receiving the fund from the State and Central governments.

A group of second and third year students of Ranipet Institute of Technology said they had not received scholarship of `21,700 per year since their first year. They have paid anywhere between `10,000 and 22,500 depending on the fee structure per semester.

“Initially, the management said I need not pay a paise as the fees will be covered under the scholarship. But they asked me to pay `10,000, claiming that they will repay it after getting the scholarship amount from the government,” said a second year EEE student of the institution.

The management even threatened that those SC students, who do not pay the fees, won’t be allowed to attend the exams.

“We have been marked absent for the last two hours of our Friday class despite the fact that we attended them. We were marked absent for not paying the fees. The principal told us that we will not be allowed to attend the semester examination on Monday, if we fail to pay the fee,” the student added.

“The same thing happened during the last semester,” said Kumar (name changed), a second year student of Mechanical Engineering. Several students were not allowed to attend the examination as well as the lab test during the second semester for the same reason.

Kumar, along with about 45 students, petitioned the district administration on Monday to take suitable action against the college administration for not waiving the fees as per the government order. For the polytechnic course, the government gives `6,500 for government quota and `21,700 for management quota. The institutions do not disclose this to the students and admit them with the false promise that they can study free of cost.

The problem is experienced across the State as most of the private institutions do not comply with the GO to waive the tuition and examination fees for the SC students, said an official in the Adi Dravidar Welfare Office in Vellore. “Students had not been issued exam hall tickets, citing non-payment of semester fees of `14,000,” said an official.