Insurance firm ordered to pay Rs. 1.18 crore to scientist’s kin

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

A court here has directed an insurance firm to pay Rs. 1.18 crore as compensation to the family of a scientist who was killed in a road accident three-and-a-half years ago.

According to prosecution, Karthik, 51, was a scientist working with Indian Space Research Organisation’s Propulsion Research Complex at Mahendragiri on Tirunelveli–Kanniyakumari border.

Fatal ride

The ISRO scientist was fatally knocked down by a speeding lorry at Vettoornimadam near here as he was proceeding to his relative’s house on his motorbike on October 24, 2015.

When the victim’s wife, seeking compensation, filed a case, Chief Judicial Magistrate Pandiarajan on Thursday directed United India Insurance to pay Rs. 1.18 crore to the family of the deceased within a month.

Medicos do a novel formation with bikes

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

THANJAVUR, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

Students of Government Medical College here formed the image of a hand with protruding index finger by using their motorcycles on the college campus on Friday as part of Systematic Voter Education and Electoral Participation programmes organised by the District Election Wing.

The image sought to highlight the importance of having the indelible ink on the index finger without fail on polling day.

Strong room inspected

In Tiruvarur, where a by-election to the Tiruvarur Assembly Segment is to be held along with the Parliamentary elections, Election Observer (General) for Assembly by-election Chandrakanth Dange inspected the strong room at the taluk office where the EVMs are kept.

He verified the records pertaining to the equipment and also inquired about the security cover provided at the taluk office.

Show cause notices issued to 92 poll duty personnel

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

THANJAVUR, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

Show cause notices have been served to 92 persons who failed to turn up for the first session of election duty training programme held on April 3 in Thanjavur district.

Disclosing this in a press release, District Election Officer and Collector A. Annadurai said 11,662 persons were drawn from education and other departments for poll duty and intimations were sent to them to attend the first session of the election duty training held on April 3.

However, 92 persons did not turn up at the training centres allotted to them and hence show cause notices were served on them, he added.

In the second session of training to be held on April 7, demonstration of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine would be conducted to help the polling staff to get accustomed with the functioning of the machine apart from the regular electronic voting machine components.

Necessary arrangements had been put in place for casting of votes by those deployed for polling duty on April 18 and the polling duty staff were advised to use the postal ballot facility without fail.

A total of 125 persons from Central government Offices, Central government-owned establishments and banks had been appointed as micro observers at 102 polling booths which had been identified as sensitive booths out of the 2,287 polling booths to be set up in Thanjavur district.

Tiruvarur

The second session of training for the 6,380 persons drawn for polling duty in 1,168 polling booths in Tiruvarur district would be held at the designated centres on April 7. The duty letters would be issued to them by the respective department heads, according to District Election Officer and Collector T. Anand.

65-year-old man arrested for duping investors to the tune of Rs. 4 crore

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

PUDUCHERRY, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) on Friday arrested a 65-year-old man for allegedly duping investors to the tune of Rs. 4 crore.

Speaking to reporters here, Senior Superintendent of Police (C&I) Mahesh Kumar Barnwal said, the accused M. Thiyagarajan of Otteri in Vellore district was running a chit fund agency Royal Agro and Dairy Pvt Ltd at Jawaharlal Nehru Street here.

Chit fund bait

Thiyagarajan had lured people to invest in the chit fund schemes of his firm promising them attractive returns. Around 1,000 people had deposited money with him. However, he avoided repayment.


Mr. Barnwal said that one S. Tamilselvan of Velrampet, who had invested Rs. 11.18 lakh as fixed deposit lodged a complaint with the CB-CID police on April 4 that he was cheated by the firm.

A special police team led by Sub-Inspector Jerome Jesmond arrested the accused in Vellore.

Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that Thiyagarajan had duped over 1,000 investors to the tune of Rs. 4 crore in Puducherry.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu Police had also registered a case against him and properties valued at Rs. 38 crore were frozen by the police.

A case has been registered and further investigations are on. Superintendent of Police (CID) N. Selvam was also present.

‘Health Secretary may be summoned’

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

With the State yet to file a report on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to videograph post mortem, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday said that if there was no response, the court would be constrained to summon the Health Secretary. A Division Bench of Justices N. Kirubakaran and S.S. Sundar adjourned the hearing by a week.

The court was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by advocate Arun Swaminathan from Madurai, who sought a direction to videograph post mortem across the State to avoid irregularities.

He complained that a cut-copy-paste procedure was followed while issuing the certificates and the conduct of post mortem was not in accordance with the Tamil Nadu Medical Code, he said.

Cannot quash case against former V-C: HC

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

The Madras High Court has refused to quash a criminal case booked by the Kalapet police against Anisa Basheer Khan, former Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) of Pondicherry University, and three others on charges of fabricating certain documents in 2016 in order to ensure that she continued in the post despite having been relieved by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan dismissed the quash plea filed by Ms. Khan, professor of economics M. Ramachandra, data entry operator N. Veerappan and private secretary to the V-C S. Rajkumar.

HC offers no relief for medical negligence

Legal Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 06, 2019 00:00 IST

The Madras High Court has refused to quash a criminal case booked against three doctors, including the owner of a hospital situated within Tondiarpet police station limits in Chennai, and two obstetricians, for having reportedly left behind a cotton swab inside the abdomen of a woman during a cesarean section-cum-sterilisation procedure.

Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan dismissed the quash petitions filed by the doctors Rajendran, P. Shanthi and P. Vasantha and said that there were sufficient materials to prosecute them for the charge of having negligently left behind a foreign body, inside the abdomen, which had to be removed through another surgery.

The judge pointed out that the wife of the complainant, T. Mahesh, had to suffer abdominal sepsis due to the presence of the foreign body.