COIMBATORE: Less than a month after a Chennai techie was shamed by local people and some news channels after her child accidentally slipped from her hands and fell on the balcony of their apartment, she was found dead at her paternal home at Karamadai in Coimbatore on Sunday. Although, the eight-month-old child was miraculously rescued by residents of the apartment complex at Thirumullaivoyal in Chennai after the fall on April 28, the mother, V Ramya, was unable to overcome the humiliation she s

VIRUDHUNAGAR: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Srivilliputhur recently directed a printer company and a service centre to replace a customer's defective inkjet printer with a new one, as the former was not repaired properly by the respondents. The panel also slapped a fine of Rs 15,000 on the company and the centre citing deficiency in service. The order was issued by President SJ Chakkkaravarthy and member M Muthulakshmi on a petition filed by B Vijayasarathan, a resident

ERODE: A woman from Appakudal approached the Erode district collector's office on Saturday demanding a proper investigation into the death of her 16-year-old son. She alleged an acquaintance had offered the boy a drink laced with ganja and a chemical solution before he took ill. P Amsa, who is a resident of Gandhi Nagar in Appakudal, filed a complaint over the death of her son Gowtham on May 17. More than 50 people from the area accompanied her as she arrived to submit a petition at the collecto

TIRUCHY: The enumeration undertaken by the horticulture department to ascertain the actual extent of damage to banana cultivation from the recent gale that struck several parts of the district has put the figure at about 500 acres, said officials. The final report will be submitted to the state government through the district collector soon, following which compensation will be announced for the affected farmers, they added. Banana cultivation is taken up on an average of 15,000 acres in the dis

KANNIYAKUMARI: Amid rainfall lashing Kanniyakumari district for the past few days, District Collector PN Sridhar inspected water levels in Pechiparai and Perunchuni dams that have neared their respective capacities. While the level of water in Pechiparai dam stands at 45.14 feet, against its capacity of 48 feet, that in Perunchuni dam has been recorded at 47.5 feet against its capacity of 77 feet. Taking stock of the water level in the two dams, Collector Sridhar said that Pechiparai has neared

NILGIRIS/COIMBATORE: A 15-year -old male elephant died of electric shock at a patta land in Kunjappanai in the Kothagiri forest range in Nilgiris on Saturday morning. Forest officials said that the animal had allegedly come in contact with the live overhead power line after it pushed a tree onto it while eating and got electrocuted. Kotagiri forest range officer S Selvaraj said, This is an accident. During field inspection, we found that the killing was not intentional. As the animal was attract

CHENNAI : The heat has paved way for rains in the state, with three districts Theni, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi likely to get isolated heavy to very heavy rain to extremely heavy rain on Sunday, Regional Metereological Centre (RMC) said. The centre has issued a heavy rainfall warning for some parts of the state in the coming week as well. Heavy to very heavy rain is likely to occur at isolated places over Kanniyakumari, Virudhunagar, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Dindigul districts and heavy

TIRUCHY: The Airport police on Friday arrested and remanded in judicial custody eight passengers at Tiruchy international airport found in alleged possession of passports obtained using forged documents. Of the eight, six were about to board flights while the other two were detained by immigration authorities on arrival. All the eight have been remanded to the Central Prison in Tiruchy till May 30. The Airport police arrested A Arabi Mohammed (53), K Bose (53), K Abdul Rahim (52) and S Ruthira P

NILGIRIS/COIMBATORE: Rail services were disrupted on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway as a landslide occurred between Kallar and Hillgrove station due to heavy rain on Friday. Trains between Mettupalayam and Udhagamandalam were cancelled. Mud and boulders fell over the railway line, obstructing traffic as heavy rain lashed the surroundings of Coonoor on Friday. The Nilgiris district received 1,099 millimetre rainfall of which Coonoor received 171 mm in the last 24 hours ending at 7 am on Saturday, s

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of picking up a cheap strategy of stoking confrontation between states through hate speeches and lies as his propaganda of communal hatred has not helped him win votes. In a statement, the DMK president voiced concern over the alleged inaction by the Election Commission of India (ECI), stating that the country watched with shock and anguish as the PM delivered irresponsible speeches without intervention from the

COIMBATORE: Seven people, including a woman and her parents, were arrested on Saturday for the murder of her 30-year-old husband who went missing in August last year. The probe revealed the murder was hatched as the man tortured his wife. The arrested have been identified as V Divya (24), her mother D Mariyaal (48), father R Devaraj (50), M Balaji (48), P Muthu (32), R Pounraj (53), A Deivandran (31). The arrest followed a police complaint filed by Divya herself, the wife of the murdered man, S

DHARMAPURI: Residents in Harur urged the Dharmapuri district administration to take steps to renovate the park located near the Varattar (Vallmadurai Dam). The park has been shrouded with overgrowth due to poor maintenance and improving the park could improve tourism, stated residents. The Varattar Dam located in Harur taluk has a capacity of 110 million cubic feet (mcft). Its waters irrigate over 1,000 hectares of agricultural land in Harur. Located along the foothills of the Shevaroy hills, th

CHENNAI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) is planning to use its new building on 5,000 square feet land at Gobichettipalayam in Erode district to conduct regular workshops on Marxist ideology for its cadre and functionaries. The building, named after freedom fighter and one of the founding members of CPI in Tamil Nadu CS Subramaniam will be inaugurated by the partys national general secretary D Raja on Monday. K Santhanam, state convener of CPIs education department, said the workshops for the

CHENNAI: The state governments attempt to reopen river sand quarries in the delta districts after nearly nine months has evoked mixed reactions from farmers, sand lorry owners and civil engineers. Farmers have voiced strong concerns, urging the government not to reopen the quarries, as they fear the extraction of sand from riverbeds will affect water storage and flow in the region. KV Elankeeran, president of Federation of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association, told TNIE, The use of machines to take

CHENNAI: The state government has sent a list of pointers to all public and private higher education institutions to ensure disabled students dont miss out on admissions because of incorrect reading of the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (RPWD) Act. The May 10 letter by S Nagarajan, secretary for Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, was drafted after a detailed study of prospectus of some universities revealed arbitrary reasons for denying admissions to disabled students under the 5% reserv

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the re-postmortem of a Dalit worker by exhuming his buried body in an alleged custodial torture case. R Anju, wife of the deceased K Raja, had filed a petition in the HC saying that her husband had allegedly died after being subjected to torture at the Villupuram Taluk Police Station. Justice R Sakthivel passed the order in a special sitting on Friday. The judge directed that authorities, including Villupuram collector, exhume Rajas body and a team of t

TIRUCHY: In the last two years, the Tiruchy city corporations maintenance works on several stormwater drains, especially the laying of tiles over them to ensure pedestrian paths have elicited positive responses among residents. However, they expressed concern that the work was conducted without much supervision, particularly at Thennur High Road, pointing out particularly the condition of footpaths laid last year at Puthur. According to sources, the corporation commenced renovation work on the d

TIRUCHY: Parents sending their children to the anganwadi centre at Pookkollai Street in Varaganeri bemoan the risks the latter are exposed to from the eateries and the public toilet that teem for space in front of it. Another child care centre located nearby also suffers a similar plight as parents point to the construction material piled up right before its entrance for proof. While around 20 children from localities such as Alanganathapuram and Palpannai are cared for at the anganwadi centre i

NEW DELHI: Indias biggest skill competition has drawn maximum participation from the southern states, with Tamil Nadu witnessing the highest number of competitors who are showcasing their expertise in areas as varied as traditional crafts to the latest technologies. From Tamil Nadu 86 participants - the highest from any state in India - are competing in the India Skills Competition 2024, followed by Karnataka with 61 competitors. This year, IndiaSkills is witnessing the participation of over 900

CHENNAI: DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of picking up a cheap strategy of stoking confrontation between states as his propaganda of communal hatred did not help. Stalin slammed what he called Modi's imaginary tales and bags of lies by alleging that leaders of southern states including Tamil Nadu (INDIA bloc constituents) were speaking in a derogatory manner, against the people of Uttar Pradesh. Days ago, PM Modi had alleged in a poll

MADURAI: A 44-year-old man died after a portion of the rain-soaked roof of his house collapsed, following heavy downpour, near the Mathichiyam area in Madurai in the wee hours of Friday. This is the first such incident reported in the district this year, according to the disaster management department. Sporadic rain has been lashing Madurai district for the past couple of days. Following the heavy downpour, a portion of roof of a house collapsed in Mathichiyam area, killing Balasubramanian (44).

TIRUPATTUR: It gives me immense joy that my daughter, who will be joining Class 6 in the upcoming academic year, has received her ST community certificate. This will help her pursue higher education and secure dormitory facilities, said S Ambika (35), a resident of the Irular colony in Bapanapalli near Vaniyambadi. On Thursday, Collector K Tharpagaraj issued Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates to six school students from the community, marking a milestone in the nearly 50-year struggle of the resi

TIRUNELVELI: Three more persons were arrested by the Tirunelveli city police in connection with the attack on activist-cum-builder Ferdin Rayan here on Thursday. The accused were identified as Muzamil Murshid, Mullan Syed Ali and Abdul Ajees, natives of Tirunelveli. A special police team has also been set up to nab another accused Sahul Hameed, a native of Dindigul. Rayan, a resident of Palayamkottai, was hacked using a sickle on his head and hands on May 4 at a badminton ground here. Following

THOOTHUKUDI: Two persons were arrested by the Kovilpatti West police and a search is on to trace another for allegedly attacking an auto driver and a woman over previous enmity. According to sources, auto driver Gnanaprakasam (55) of Nadarajapuram was brutally hacked by a three-member gang on the AKS Theatre road late on Wednesday. His relative Punitha Mary, who attempted to shield Gnanaprakasam, also sustained injuries in the attack. Preliminary investigation revealed that the attack was carrie

COIMBATORE: The Anaimalai police in Coimbatore district on Thursday registered a case against a woman who befriended a woman devotee and stole about 13 sovereigns of gold ornaments from the latter at the Arulmigu Masaniamman Temple at Anaimalai. The case has been filed against Shanthi of Salem. The devotee who lost the valuables is Nagammal (67), wife of Thirupathi of Gandhi Nagar at Achampathu in Madurai. Police said Nagammal, a daily wage labourer, visited a temple at Kanakkanpatti on May 8 mo

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has quashed the final report (chargesheet) filed in a Pocso case against a lawyer and her partner, charged with sexually assaulting her 13-year-old son, after finding out that the investigation had not touched upon the bribery charges against a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member who allegedly influenced the probe at the instance of the womans estranged husband (the boys father). This court is of the view that the final report is defective in the sense that the ma

TENKASI: A 16-year-old boy from Tirunelveli was swept away by flash floods triggered by heavy rain at the Old Courtallam Falls in Tenkasi on Friday. His body was later recovered by the fire and rescue services personnel and sent to Government District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem. The waterfalls will remain out of bounds for tourists until further notice. Police identified the deceased as K Aswin, a resident of NGO colony in Tirunelveli. Aswin recently cleared his SSLC examination. He vi

TIRUPPUR: The manager of a lodge in Udumalaipet was arrested and remanded for letting a minor boy rent a room in the facility where he allegedly sexually assaulted girl. The case relates to the sexual assault on two minor girls by nine people last Monday. The arrested person, Samuel (60), is a resident of Udumalaipet. Police said Samuel allowed a boy and a girl to take a room in his facility though it is illegal. He has been managing the lodge for the past several decades, police added. Further,

CHENNAI: Several places across Tamil Nadu received widespread rains on Thursday and Friday. Mylaudy in Kanniyakumari district registered the highest rainfall of 7 cm in the 24 hours ending at 8.30 am on Friday. Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi, Valparai in Coimbatore, and Nannilam in Tiruvarur received 6 cm each; Cuddalore and Kottaram in Kanniyakumari received 5 cm each; and Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi received 4 cm during the same period. Karur Paramathi received 4.5 cm of rain from 8.30 am to 7.30

COIMBATORE: A police crackdown on escort services is on in Coimbatore city. More than 40 women have been rescued from the cartel running the racket in the last one month. Based on their statements, the Coimbatore city police in the last fortnight arrested a dozen middlemen who allegedly brought them to the illegal activity. Most of the rescued women are aged between 18 and 25. They are either students or employees. The city police have formed special teams and have intensified investigation foll

TIRUPATTUR: The Tirupattur Taluk police on Friday booked 90 villagers from Anganathavalasai on the charges of obstructing government officials from carrying out their duty. A day before, the villagers staged a protest, seeking permission to construct a compound wall for a temple on a parcel of land which happens to fall under the poramboke category. As the officials declined permission, following an inspection, the protesters reportedly besieged the officials vehicle and demanded them to issue o

CHENNAI: Customs officials at the Chennai airport seized around 1.6 kg of gold worth around Rs 1 crore from two persons who allegedly tried to smuggle it into the country, sources said on Friday. In the first case, Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officers intercepted a female passenger who arrived from Bangkok in Thailand on Thursday. Upon search, they recovered a silver-coated bangle and three silver-coated chains from her. They subjected the ornaments to heat treatment, and found that the items we

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore city cyber crime police produced YouTuber G Felix Gerald of RedPix before the Coimbatore court from Tiruchy and on Friday lodged him in the Coimbatore central prison. Gerald was arrested by the Tiruchy district cyber crime police from Noida on May 10 and remanded in the Tiruchy central prison on Monday. Geralds arrest came in connection with an interview on his channel with YouTuber Savukku Shankar in which the latter spoke in an objectionable manner about senior polic

TIRUCHY: The additional mahila court here before which the Tiruchy cyber crime police on Friday evening produced YouTuber Savukku Shankar after one days custody for interrogation ordered him to be lodged back in the Central Prison in Coimbatore. Shankar is currently under judicial remand till May 28. At the court, Shankar urged magistrate D Jeyapradha to direct the Coimbatore prison authorities to shift him from the special ward for prisoners with mental illnesses to a normal cell. To this, the

SALEM: In a disturbing incident that highlights the continuation of caste discrimination, two engineering students hailing from an SC community were assaulted by 10 inebriated people from a dominant caste near Jalakandapuram on Wednesday evening when they were returning home from college. Police arrested one suspect on Friday. According to police, the victims, R Kamalesh and Magi K, both 18-year-old, are studying in a private engineering college at Mecheri. The two were 500 metres away from thei

CHENNAI: Accusing the DMK government of failing to check sexual crimes against women and girl children, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday urged the state to ensure that severe punishment is given to the gang of nine persons involved in the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in Udumalaipettai. He also charged that law and order have been deteriorating ever since the DMK government assumed office and that prevalence of narcotics leads to crimes. Expressing shock over the

THOOTHUKUDI: Environmental activists have alleged that palmyra trees are being felled in Thoothukudi district without obtaining appropriate permission from the authorities concerned and despite the state having prohibited the felling of palmyra trees. The concern comes after 50 palmyra trees on a private land in Adichanallur near Srivaikuntam were felled earlier this month. The trees, including young ones, were cut away for timber while the remnants were torched, on private land banks of the Tha

COIMBATORE: Students who have completed their class 12 education through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), which is an autonomous institution under Ministry of Education, face immense difficulties in securing admission to private arts and science colleges affiliated to Bharathiar University in Coimbatore. Students alleged that colleges refused admission citing lack of equivalence certificates and other reasons. A student, C Murali at Selvapuram in the city, told TNIE, After comple

CHENNAI: In a significant judgment likely to have a pan-India impact, a division bench of Madras High Court has held that tax deduction at source (TDS) is applicable on the roaming charges for mobile communication paid by one service provider to another since the charges qualified as fees for technical services under section 194 J of the Income Tax Act. The order was passed by a division bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Mohammed Shaffiq during a special sitting on Friday on an appeal filed by t

CHENNAI: In a move to facilitate easier online bill payment for consumers, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) will commence sending UPI payment links through WhatsApp for consumers who use more than 500 units of electricity bimonthly. This new feature, launched on Friday, aims to boost digital payment collection across Tamil Nadu. A senior Tangedco official told TNIE, This is the first time we are offering such a service. Currently, consumers pay their electricity

CHENNAI: The proverbial long arm of the law has eventually caught up with Virugambakkam-based vegetable seller-turned-ganja peddler L Ravi (64). Seven-and-a-half years after a trial court acquitted him in a ganja case, the investigation of which was messed up by Chennai police, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) managed to secure a 12-year sentence for Ravi and three others on May 9 in another case filed in 2019. Ravi and four others were acquitted in December 2016 after the Choolaimedu police f

Contrary to the original intent of giving effect to the UN General Assembly in 1998 to combat the severe concern of drug money being used to promote terrorism, the application of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) has been criticised for abusing the powers and conferring excessive authority to the Enforcement Directorate for every ordinary crime. When enacted in 2002, it was to curb the crime proceeds derived under the NDPS Act, IPC, Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, The Arms Ac

MADURAI: In view of disconnection and traffic block for facilitating engineering works at Karaikudi, Madurai division of the Southern Railway has made certain changes in the pattern of train services. In line with this, Tiruchy-Rameswaram Express (16849) leaving Tiruchy at 7.05 pm on May 19 and Rameswaram-Tiruchy Express (16850) departing from Rameswaram at 2.35 pm on May 19 have been cancelled. Likewise, Karaikudi-Tiruchy Passenger (06830) leaving Karaikudi at 3.30 pm on May 19 and Tiruchy-Kara

KANNIYAKUMARI: Kanniyakumari district received an average rainfall of 11.93 mm in the last few days. In a stray incident, a Kerala native drowned in a tank in Nagercoil. The deceased person has been identified as 35-year-old Alexraj, who was an electrician from Kerala.According to sources, he had come to Nagercoil for work. On Wednesday night, he had come to Subbaiyarkulam tank in Nagercoil, to take bath. That is when he drowned in the tank. The fire and rescue service personnel retrieved the bo

Thondamuthur police on Wednesday arrested a gang of six Assam native workers, including two women, for allegedly smuggling and selling a narcotic substance which is yet to be identified. This is the third such drug bust in the locality in the last nine months, yet police have not been able to find out what type of drug it is. Workers from Assam and other north eastern states work in betel nut processing industries in Thondamuthur. Police arrested Ashma Kha Tun (40) wife of Noorjahan Ismail. Alo

MADURAI: In the wake of the rain alert issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city corporation is on standby to address rain catastrophes, and is gearing up to increase emphasis on rainwater harvesting schemes. As per latest IMD reports, several parts across the state are likely to witness sporadic and heavy rainfall for the next couple of days. With heavy downpour lashing Madurai for the past few days, the city has been facing severe waterlogging issues. Though major stagnatio

THOOTHUKUDI: With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) sounding an orange alert for Thoothukudi on Saturday and severe downpour predicted to lash the district till May 19, the district administration is primed up to address to any catastrophic situation which might occur, and flood management works are under way in full spirit. Thoothukudi Corporation Mayor Jegan Periyasamy, who has initiated desilting activities at Buckle canal in a bid to ensure smooth flow of rainwater into the sea, advi

THOOTHUKUDI: With eight murders reported within two weeks in Thoothukudi, the district police have allegedly broken the hands of four accused, in a bid to curb crime. According to sources, one Santhana Maria (32) was murdered at Ganesh Nagar on May 4, while Regina Mary (47) was killed by her husband Nagendran at Muthiahpuram on May 5. On May 7, Gurusamy (64) was killed inside a Tasmac bar in Kovilpatti, while one Muthupandi (42) of Barathinagar was killed by his friends in Kovilpatti on May 9. K

COIMBATORE: A special team of Coimbatore city police on Thursday arrested a Karnataka-based drug distributor, who was allegedly involved in most of the drug abuse cases in the district for the last two years and had been evading arrest. He was arrested on Wednesday when he arrived in the city to deliver a consignment. As many as 116 sedative tablets, three grams of methamphetamine, three mobile phones, and some tobacco products were seized from him. Four of his customers were also arrested. Acco

COIMBATORE: The Southern Railways has been urged to introduce Coimbatore-Tiruchendur special train in view of the Vaikasi Visakam festival on which Lord Murugan's birthday is marked. In a letter to the Southern Railway General Manager RN Singh, Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan requested a special train on May 22 to facilitate smooth travel for devotees. The festival is being celebrated with great fervour in the Tiruchendur region, attracting a large number of devotees from across the stat