Ex-DSP Forcing Accused in Red Sanders Case?

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 10th July 2015 

VELLORE:The Judicial Magistrate (JM) Court in Ambur has dismissed a petition seeking to shift one of the accused in the red sanders smuggling case from the Vellore prison, observing that the request should come either from the aggrieved person or the jail superintendent and not from a ‘third party’.

In his petition, Viswanathan, son of Nagendran (47) a co-accused in the red sanders smuggling case, claimed that his father was being threatened by former Prohibition Enforcement Wing Deputy Superintendent of Police  K Thangavelu (51) and three others - Gopu, Loganathan and Mariyappan of Kancheepuram district - all lodged in the Vellore Central Prison for Men in the same case.

The quartet also wanted Nagendran to inform the court that the Deputy Superintendent of Police had no role in the case, besides bearing all their legal expenses.

Nagendran’s family came to know of this when they visited him at the prison earlier this week. They claimed that Nagendran’s life was under threat from the Deputy Superintendent of Police and the other three accused.

Subsequently, Viswanathan filed a petition in the Judicial Magistrate court, pleading to shift his father from the Vellore prison to any other prison.

However, Magistrate R A S Anandaraj dismissed the plea stating that the court cannot entertain a third party petition, and directed Viswanathan to approach the Madras High Court.

“The court told the petitioner (Viswanathan) that it can consider petitions either from the aggrieved person or the prison superintendent,” said a source.

It is learnt that the court had communicated to the prison administration to look into the issue.

Prison Superintendent V Karupannan and other senior officials of the prison could not be reached for comments.  

Meanwhile, Magistrate Anandaraj on Thursday issued an order extending the judicial custody of Thangavelu, Gopu, Loganathan and Mariyappan till July 23.

District Court Strikes Down Election of Panchayat Chief

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 11th July 2015VELLORE: Three years after it was held, the Principal District Court has declared as null and void the election for the post of president of Valayathur panchayat in Tirimiri and pronounced the petitioner as the winning candidate.

Delivering the verdict, judge AVR Deenadayalan said the announcement of K Kali as the Valayathur  panchayat president, pursuant to the election held on October 17, 2011, as “null and void, ultra vires and illegal”. “It is further declared that the petitioner R Santhi is the winning candidate of the election held for the post of the panchayat of Valayathur village,” the judge said on Thursday.

Petitioner Santhi approached the court saying the district collector, who was the district election officer, and the BDO of Timiri, who was the election commissioner, had colluded with the ruling party and manipulated the postal votes in favour of Kali. Santhi submitted that she polled 1,158 votes, while her rival candidate Kali got 1,155 votes. Though Santhi was declared winner initially, the Returning Officer (RO) delayed issuing the certificate of election to her. Officials later stated that out of the 22 postal votes received, 16 were in favour of Kali and four for Santhi and declared Kali as winning candidate.

According to Rule 52 (2) of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat (Elections Rules) 1995, postal vote should have a declaration (form 17) along with the ballot and the elector shall sign the form. It should reach the RO before 5 pm on the day before the poll. “However, the RO said there were no postal votes before voting commenced on October 17, 2011. Apart from this, of the 20 postal votes, only two had the declaration form,” Santhi’s advocate said.

The court, on January 30, 2015, appointed an advocate commissioner to shoulder the assignment of recounting of the postal ballots and passed an order directing the Collector and the BDO to produce the declaration forms for the postal votes. But the RO and BDO did not submit them. In the meantime, the advocate commissioner found declaration forms in only two of the postal votes out of 20 and submitted a report to the court.

“The postal votes without declaration forms are invalid votes, according to the rules,” the advocate said. Based on the evidence submitted, the judge pronounced Santhi as the winning candidate.

Cradle of Weightlifting Losing its Passion

Cradle of Weightlifting Losing its Passion for the Sport Due to Lack of Support

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 13th July 2015 06:06 

http://media.newindianexpress.com/cradle.JPG/2015/07/13/article2917010.ece/alternates/w620/cradle.JPG

VELLORE: Weightlifting, which made Vellore district and particularly Sathuvachari popular in the international arena, is slowly fading from this part of the State. Poor facilities and lack of financial assistance from the government are laying waste to young talent that is capable of winning medals at national and international levels, and forcing youngsters to stay away from the sport.

Famously known as the cradle of weightlifters, Vellore district has witnessed a drastic decline in the number of weightlifters in the last couple of years. The district has produced nearly 15 international players, Arjuna awardees and Olympians and more than 80 national-level players since the mid-1980s. Of the prominent weightlifters from Vellore is Sathish Sivalingam of Sathuvachari who bagged the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 77-kg category.

Till a decade ago, every team that represented the country in international events had one or two lifters from Vellore. Many won laurels for the country and the State. Though it is a tough sport and needs continuous and rigorous training, many youth from middle and lower middle classes opted for it earlier as it guaranteed employment in the government sector. Later, it turned into a passion for many.

After weightlifting categories were trimmed from 15 to eight (56 kg, 62 kg, 69 kg, 77 kg, 85 kg, 94 kg, 105 kg and 105+ kg) in the early 1990s, employment opportunities in Central and State governments dwindled, according to T Muthu, a 40-year-old Olympian and Arjuna awardee. He won gold in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in 1999 and represented the country in other international events.

Hitherto, five to six weight lifters landed government jobs in a year. “Now, not even two get jobs in a year. The State government is showing no interest in recruiting national-level players,” said E Sekar, a former international weightlifter.

From anywhere between 150 and 200 players at any point of time in the 1990s, the number fell as the years rolled on. “Now, there are hardly 50 young weightlifters in the district under training. If the scenario continues, there will be no weightlifters from Vellore in a few years and the sport will vanish from here soon,” said Muthu.

Poor training facilities with below par equipment and non-availability of qualified trainers and support staff has made the situation worse.

Financial constraint is another major factor that drives away the talented weight lifters from the sports.  “The sports has become a costly affair now.  A lifter should take proper diet and supplements that will cost around Rs 2,000 per day. Many young talented lifters from poor families cannot afford this and the poverty is driving such potential candidates away from the sports. The government should step in to revive the lost glory of Sathuvachari and weightlifting,” said 24 year-old Sathish Sivalingam.

Sathish recalled that his senior Ramachandran was a capable of winning medals in international level, but injuries undone his hard work of several years. There were many such Ramachandrans in the district.

“Unless the government establishes a fully equipped training centre-cum- hostel with supporting staff to harness potential of the young prospects, it will be difficult to tap the potential of youngsters here,” added Sekar, another international player from Sathuvachari. He added that now international players from Vellore are rare. /eom/shan/

Vellore Corp is ready for Central Govt’s Smart City project

Vellore Corp is ready for Central Govt’s Smart City project

J Shanmugha Sundaram/ Published on July 14

Vellore: The Vellore Corporation is gearing up for the Central Government’s Smart City project and taking efforts to meet the parameters laid by the State and Central Governments.

The local body is preparing to match the guidelines laid down by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA), Commissioner of the Corporation Janaki Raveendran told Express.

The 60-member council gave its approval for a resolution placed before it on Monday about the Smart City project.  It reads that “the local body is ready to follow the guidelines laid down by the Central and State Governments under Smart City project and is also thanking the government for proposing the city for the project.”  It has been forwarded to the CMA.

Under the project, the selected city would receive a grant of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. The Tamil Nadu Government has proposed all the 12 Corporations in the state for the project. “The CMA has devised certain parameters and will award marks for the corporations based on its performance and meeting its guidelines such as prioritising the needs and demands of the local body. We will follow the guidelines to the best to score over other municipalities,” she added.

The Corporation has already studied civic issues and needs of the City that resulted in the City Development Plan. Water crisis, sanitation and traffic were the major issues in the Corporation limit and the local body has prioritised it.

 “We have also completed the comprehensive mobility plan with the help of State Government’s agency TNUIFSL (Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd) to decongest the traffic in the city. The plan was ready by last year itself,” she further said.

The local body is also ready with ‘cluster method’ to tackle waste. Under this method, the corporation would take efforts to turn the waste into energy. “At present, we are dumping the 230 metric tonnes of waste that is generated per day in the dumping yard. We will opt for cluster method to segregate the waste and turn that into resource. We are in the process of identifying a suitable site for the project,” she further said./eom/shan/

Thugs Vanish from Police Radar

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 09th July 2015

VELLORE: Notorious gangsters ‘Athiradi’ Maha (alias) Mahalingam (35) and Vasur Raja (alias) Raja (aged about 30), disappeared from the police radar after jumping bail a couple of months ago. The Vellore court have issued non-bailable arrest warrants (NWB), but police remain in the dark on their whereabouts.

Vasur Raja and ‘Athiradi’ Maha

Sources in the police department said that Maha involved in six murder cases, including the murder of

Public Relations Officer of CMC Hospital, John Segar (who was murdered on March 16, 2009 at Kazhinjur). The principal district and sessions Court, Vellore, sentenced Maha and his associate Appu (alias) Rajendran (27) to life-imprisonment. The duo appealed against the verdict at the HC.

Vasur Raja                                            Athiradi Maha

Four cases were pending against him, while he was acquitted for a murder case in  the Sathuvachari Police Station limit.

He obtained condition bail from the Vellore Court in two murder cases, including the murder case of his rival gang member Suriya,two months ago.

“After the conditional bail was relaxed by the Judicial Magistrate Court-I in Salem during the first week of June, he vanished from the police radar. Within a week, he along with his associates abducted A Prabhu (24), a native of Azhaganavodai village in Tiruvannamalai, for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh on June 14. Prabhu’s family is involved in red sander smuggling. Thus, Maha targeted them to extort money,” said the police source.

Kannamangalam police, however, acted swiftly and rescued the youth on June 15. The police arrested four of Maha’s associates, including the panchayat president of K V Kuppam panchayat in Vellore.

“Maha managed to escape from the police and is still at large.  He masterminded realtor Krishnan’s murder from behind the bars in 2010 and has continued his activities at his will,” added the source.

The gangster is said to have cut his trademark long hair and has had a tonsure at the Tirupathi temple. 

“He filed anticipatory bail at the HC in the abduction for ransom case,” added the police official.

Maha’s rival Vasur Raja, who is also off the grid of police surveillance, along with his aides attempted to murder Maha and his gang members on the premises of the Vellore District Combined Courts Complex in Sathuvachari on April 10, 2010. Wielding sickles, Raja and his gang stormed into the court complex to kill Maha and his gang.

”After the shocking incident, the government had passed an order to extend security in all district courts. But Raja and his gang member were acquitted from the case over lack of evidence,” said the senior police officer.

Within three days of his acquittal from the case, in the third week of April, he was out on bail in the abduction-cum-murder case of pawn shop owner Muthukumar, who was hacked to death on February 19, 2014. Vasur Raja was last spotted four weeks ago near Ponniyamman Koil in Perumugai on the outskirts of Vellore.

“Gang wars and related crimes can be controlled, if the district police act quickly and firmly. Information that the gangsters are extorting businessmen in Vellore has reached, but the local police is not acting upon the information,” added the police source.

Inspector Premraj Summoned by CB-CID Team

By Express News Service

Published: 06th July 2015

VELLORE: The CB-CID team probing the case of Shameel Ahmed, who died at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital allegedly due to injuries sustained in illegal detention, summoned former inspector of Pallikonda C Martin Premraj for interrogation on Monday. The summons was pasted on the wall of his rented house and was not personally handed to him, since he has remained at large ever since the death of Ahmed. His suspension orders too were not received by him in-person and was also pasted on the wall of his residence.

A police official said that “the inspector went on medical leave from June 28, the day after Ahmed died. He moved to a rented house in Katpadi recently,” the police official said. Since he was not available at the house, which was found locked, the police officials stuck a copy of the summons on the house door.

Uncle, Friend Held for Giving Beer To Child, 2 Still at Large

By Express News Service

Published: 08th July 2015

TIRUVANNAMALAI:Two more youths were arrested on Tuesday and a dragnet spread for two others, all of whom were caught on camera giving alcohol to a four-year-old child, the footage of which went viral in the social media on Monday. On Monday, within hours after the video went viral, district police arrested Elumalai (23) and Premkumar (22), who were part of the group giving alcohol to the toddler and cheering him on to drink it.

The special team constituted under Inspector S Rajasekar arrested C Murugan (24), maternal uncle of the four-year-old child and his friend Rajaram (23) of Mel Cholankuppam village in Kadaladi Police Station limit for actively encouraging the toddler to drink. 

“We have intensified the search for Murugan’s brother Manikandan and their friend Rajaram, who remain at large,” Superintendent of Police of Tiruvannamalai, R Ponni said. The incident, videographed and uploaded onto WhatsApp by one of the accused, Premkumar, was one minute and 38 seconds long and shows Murugan and his friends giving beer to his nephew and encouraging him to drink. The footage went viral in the social media including Facebook, sparking much controversy.

Police tracked down the youth by tracing the details of the registration number of a two-wheeler (TN 25 AJ 8209) seen in the video.

“One of the accused in the case alleged that Murugan often gave alcohol to the child. We are thoroughly investigating the facts,” said Investigation Officer, S Rajasekar.