Time will tell who should apologise, says Dhinakaran

Time will tell who should apologise, says Dhinakaran

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:04.02.2021

Time would tell who committed the mistake and who should apologise, said AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran on Wednesday during a media interaction in Madurai.

He announced that his aunt V K Sasikala would return to Chennai from Bengaluru on February 7 by road to a grand reception enroute. “Time will tell who indulged in wrongs, who should seek an apology and who should be pardoned," Dhinakaran said, reacting to the AIADMK deputy organiser K P Munusamy's recent remark that the party would consider reinducting Dinakaran if he accepted his mistake and tendered an apology.

Dhinakaran said his aunt told him she was recovering well in Bengaluru and though there was a plan to visit memorials of late leaders, DMK founder C N Annadurai, AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, “Amma's memorial has been closed”.

The AMMK leader said, “I don’t know with what intention the government shut down the memorial. It shows the quality of those who did it. Will hiding the (groom’s) comb stop the wedding? She (Sasikala) will go to the memorial another day after she returns to Chennai,” he said, adding they would be taught a lesson in the assembly election.

"I know how many chemical changes are happening in Tamil Nadu as soon as the news of her release broke," TTV said, reacting to the spree of expulsions of AIADMK functionaries for “anti-party activities” or display of support for Sasikala by way of posters hailing her.

Dhinakaran said Sasikala would start from Bengaluru to Chennai at 9 am on February 7. Lakhs of Amma (Jayalalithaa) loyalists would greet her from the inter-state border near Hosur right up to her T Nagar house in Chennai. He said, “Amma’s government will come to power and Sasikala will play an important role in it.” Dinakaran appealed to Jayalalithaa loyalists and AMMK cadres to maintain discipline while welcoming Sasikala.

Asked if Sasikala would go to the AIADMK headquarters and convene the general council meeting, he said, “Let there be some suspense. It would be more appropriate if she says it.”

‘Govt closed Jaya memorial to keep Sasi from visiting’

‘Govt closed Jaya memorial to keep Sasi from visiting’

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.02.2021

DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin on Wednesday said the AIADMK government had closed Jayalalithaa’s memorial on the Marina, immediately after its inauguration, fearing that her erstwhile confidante V K Sasikala would visit the place and draw political mileage out of it by taking yet another pledge as she did before her imprisonment four years ago.

Calling Sasikala a “talented” woman, Udhayanidhi said chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who was handpicked by Sasikala to be the CM, and his deputy O Panneerselvam had inaugurated Jayalalithaa memorial on the day of Sasikala’s release from prison to divert media attention from her return to Tamil Nadu. “She outsmarted them by delaying her return to Tamil Nadu,” said Udhayanidhi while speaking at a public meeting in Kancheepuram.

EPS and OPS have closed the memorial now to prevent Sasikala from visiting the place, he said. Sasikala would give back to EPS in style for the betrayal he has meted out to her, said Udhayanidhi. Panneerselvam, who raised doubts about the death of Jayalalithaa, would face music too, he said.

The AIADMK leaders would be taught a fitting lesson by the people of the state in the coming assembly polls, he said. He kickstarted the ‘Vidiyalai Nokki Stalinin Koral’ campaign from the party founder and former CM C N Annadurai’s memorial. Before the campaign started, he, along with hundreds of party cadres, took out a silent rally in Kancheepuram town to mark the death anniversary of Annadurai.

Expressing confidence that the people of the state would replicate the outcome of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Udhayanidhi said Stalin had set his target on winning 200 seats in the assembly. The ruling AIADMK had become a slave of the Modi government at the Centre, he said. He cited implementation of NEET as an instance to buttress his point. Once in power, Stalin would get exemption for Tamil Nadu students from NEET, he said.

Study doc deaths due to Covid: IMA to Centre

UNDERREPORTED

Study doc deaths due to Covid: IMA to Centre

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  04.02.2021

“Shocked” by the underreporting of doctors’ deaths caused by Covid-19, the Indian Medical Association has urged the Centre to form a high-power committee to study data on doctors who succumbed to the viral infection in the past one year.

While the Centre announced that 162 doctors died of Covid-19, the association has released its database containing names of 744 doctors. In a letter to minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey, IMA president Dr J A Jayalal condemned the Centre’s apathy in releasing data and

delaying solatium to “martyrs’ families.

On Tuesday, the minister in a reply to a question from Kerala MP Binoy Viswam (CPI) told the Rajya Sabha that 162 doctors, 107 nurses and 44 ASHA workers had died of the viral infection.

While this data was based on intimation received from states on healthcare staff as per Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package insurance scheme, the Indian Medical Association had presented data stating 734 doctors, including 89 from Tamil Nadu, had lost their lives due to Covid-19 in the last one year.

“Of these, 431 are general practitioners across India, who were the first point of contact for the people. At least 25 of these doctors are below 35 years of age,” he said.

In his letter, Dr Jayalal said in the devastating pandemic, the frontline warriors of modern medicine had fought with altruism and in the bargain lost their lives but the roll of honour or the appropriate data on these fatalities had not been documented by the Centre.

Being in locked house not proof of affair: Court

Being in locked house not proof of affair: Court

Chennai:04.02.2021

An illicit sexual relationship cannot be presumed merely because a man and woman were found inside a locked house, the Madras high court has said.

“Presence of two individuals of opposite sex inside a locked house need not necessarily lead to a presumption that they were in an immoral relationship. This kind of presumption prevailing in society cannot be the basis for initiating disciplinary action and inflicting punishment,” Justice R Suresh Kumar said. He made the observation while quashing the termination of service of an armed reserve police constable on the ground of ‘moral turpitude’, because he was found inside a locked house along with a woman constable.

On October 10, 1998, a woman constable entered the residential quarters of constable K Saravana Babu and the door was found locked from inside when neighbours knocked. According to Saravanan, the woman constable had come to his home around 7.30pm asking for keys of her house located close by. While they were talking, someone locked the door from outside and then pretended to knock on it, he added. The judge pointed to statements of witnesses which said the door was locked from outside too. “There was absolutely no eyewitness or any other concrete evidence to prove that the two constables were found in a compromising position. Based on suspicion and conjectures, one cannot conclude that unlawful or immoral activities had taken place,” the judge said, quashing the termination of Babu. TNN

Man kills ex-colleague over loss of job

Man kills ex-colleague over loss of job

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.02.2021

Police on Wednesday arrested a 44-year-old man in connection with the murder of his former colleague at Peerkankaranai two days ago.

On Saturday, police found the body of a man identified as Johnrajasingh, 68, of Mangadu. The victim, who was a cashier at an iron ore manufacturing company at Annanur, had multiple injuries.

Police said the accused, Kovilraj, was also employed at the same firm. Kovilraj seemed uninterested in the work and would often dodge any project that came his way, an investigating officer said. This behaviour irked his colleagues, who complained about him to Johnrajasingh. When joining duty, Kovilraj had informed Johnrajasingh that he was sacked from his previous job at a firm in Hosur for being lazy. He had also been warned by employers at his other workplaces.

Irked over Kovilraj’s irresponsible ways, Johnrajasingh complained about him to the owner and Kovilraj was fired. Police said Kovilraj had been furious with Johnrajasingh ever since. On Saturday night, when the victim was heading home, Kovilraj intercepted him. He told Johnrajasingh that it had been difficult for him to make ends meet without a job and asked the victim to drop him at Perungalathur bus stop so he could leave Chennai for his native village in Tuticorin district. On the way to the bus stop, Kovilraj suggested a pitstop at a Tasmac shop in Tambaram. The two bought some alcohol and got drunk near a lake in Peerkankaranai.

Kovilraj picked up a fight with Johnrajasingh and stabbed him to death. He escaped with the victim’s bike. Police, after recovering the body, launched a search for the victim’s bike and caught the accused. Kovilraj was booked under murder charges and a court sent him to jail.

Irked over Kovilraj’s irresponsible ways, Johnrajasingh complained about him to the owner and Kovilraj was fired. A furious Kovilraj later stabbed Johnrajasingh to death

₹23L worth gold goes missing from bank locker

₹23L worth gold goes missing from bank locker

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 04.02.2021

A bag containing 58 sovereigns of gold worth around ₹23lakh has allegedly gone missing from the locker of a bank on Poonamallee High Road.

A case has been registered. Another bag containing 92 sovereigns of gold kept in the same locker was intact.

Srinivasan, of Ekattuthangal, told police that he had last seen his jewellery when he visited the bank in November last year. When he went to the bank on Tuesday and checked his locker he found one bag containing 85 sovereigns of gold missing. He immediately informed the bank officials. While Srinivasan has one key to the locker the bank has another. The locker can be opened only if they use both the keys together.

A businessman, Srinivasan lodged a complaint at the Guindy police station. A police team visited the bank and inquired with the bank officials. Police have asked them to share CCTV camera footage of the bank to further investigate the matter.

HC: Shame that AU suspended courses due to fund crunch

HC: Shame that AU suspended courses due to fund crunch

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.02.2021

It is shame on part of Anna University to suspend MTech (biotechnology) and MTech (computational biology) courses citing want of funds, observed the Madras high court on Wednesday.

“The courses may be sponsored by the Centre. If they are taking a stand to follow the reservation policy of the Centre in admission then the university should proceed further with the funds available with it,” Justice B Pugalendhi said.

The courses sponsored by the central government were suspended as the Centre insisted on 49.5% communal reservation in admissions, and not 69% reservation followed in Tamil Nadu. In case of lack of funds, the state government can also consider stepping in, the judge added.

Recording the submission of counsel for the AICTE that the courses are in existence for over two decades and that only 49.5% reservation was being followed all along, the court wondered as to why the university had grievance this year alone. The court then adjourned the hearing to February 8 for counsel for Tamil Nadu government to get instructions.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by R Chitra, a student of the university, challenging the decision to suspend the courses for the current academic year. When the plea came up for hearing, advocate Vijaya Kumar, representing the university, submitted that till last year the entire admission to the courses were made by the central government through the department of biotechnology.

“But this year, they have sent a merit list and asked us (university) to do the selection and the admission. Therefore, we wrote to the state government to clarify as to the reservation to be followed. The state instructed the university to follow 69% reservation but the AICTE insisted following 49.5% reservation. So, we decided to suspend the courses till the issue is settled,” Vijaya Kumar said.

Representing the Tamil Nadu government, special government pleader E Manoharan sought time to get instructions from the state. “We do not want to stop any good courses”, he said.

According to the petitioner, the central government’s insistence that the university follow only 49.5% reservation and not the state’s 69% quota policy in admission is arbitrary.