QChennai: Election Fever Grips RK Nagar; Trial for Daswant

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

With less than 10 days to the bypolls, all parties have been campaigning full-fledged at RK Nagar.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ OfficeOfOPS)

1. Carnival Atmosphere Grips AIADMK Camp

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam have been campaigning for AIADMK candidate E Madhusudanan.(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ OfficeOfOPS)

Around 5.30 pm on Monday, the scene near Soundarapandi-Suppamma Higher Secondary School for Girls in New Washermenpet, forming part of the Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency, resembles what is the norm during election campaign when the former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was alive. In 10 days, the constituency goes to polls.

The mood of cadre of the ruling AIADMK, who had gathered in New Washermenpet, was festive. On one side of a street the Tondiarpet High Road branches off where some women were standing in a row, waiting to perform “arati,” the traditional way of welcoming dignitaries. On the other side were youth holding placards, portraying the AIADMK symbol.

(Source: The Hindu)

2. Daswant to Be Produced in Court Tomorrow

Daswant is accused of the brutal rape and murder of a little child and also of killing his mother for money and jewels(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

A Sessions Court in Chengalpet on Monday ordered the production of Daswant for facing trial proceedings from Wednesday in the case of rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Mugalivakkam.

Nearly nine months after the crime, the trial was all set to begin from 5 December at the Mahila Court in Chengalpet. But Daswant escaped after allegedly killing his mother a day earlier. Therefore, the trial proceedings were disrupted. The court issued a warrant directing the Mangadu police to produce him.

(Source: The Hindu)

3. Man Who Set Afire Woman Booked Under Goondas Act

Her mother Renuka and sister received injuries when they attempted to rescue her and later, Indhuja’s mother succumbed to burns.(Photo: The News Minute)

M Akash, the man who allegedly set on fire a woman engineer after she turned down his marriage proposal, has been detained under the Goondas Act in Central Prison.

Akash, 22, a resident of Velachery, studied with S Indhuja, a software engineer, who was living at Adambakkam. A college dropout, Akash wooed Indhuja for a few years. When she refused to marry him, he came to her house at Saraswathi Nagar and poured inflammable material on her and set her on fire.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. HC Reserves Verdict on Plea on Bogus Voters

A special reading of the rolls was conducted in all polling booths in RK Nagar on November 26 with the help of booth-level awareness groups. (Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

The Madras High Court on Monday reserved its judgment on a plea made by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to reopen a case filed by it in connection with the existence of ‘bogus voters’ in the Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar (RK Nagar) Assembly constituency. The party had alleged that about 5,117 bogus voters were still in the rolls despite the Election Commission having deleted 45,836 names on 24 November.

DMK advocate Wilson insisted that the commission should not be allowed to go scot free after “having played a fraud on the court” by claiming to have carried out 100 percent door-to-door verification before deleting 45,836 names.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. 210 Star Tortoises Seized at Chennai Airport

Star tortoises are in demand in Southeast Asian countries as food and as pets.(Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia/ Jacob.Jose)

Customs officials at the Chennai airport seized 210 star tortoises from two passengers on Sunday night. The live star tortoises were concealed in a box of chocolates in their suitcase. When the officials removed layers of chocolates, they found two plastic boxes with start tortoises in them. The plastic boxes had holes to help the tortoises breathe.

The two passengers, Safur Ali, 33, and Mohamed Tamim Ansari, 27, were to travel to Bangkok with the star tortoises. They were handed over to the forest department for action.

(Source: Times Of India)

6. Probe Ordered into Girl's Death

Parents blame delay in arrival of ambulance as the cause of death and official argues it’s because the vehicle broke down. (Photo: Harsh Sahani/The Quint) 

Delay in the arrival of ambulance to transport a 14-year-old girl suffering from renal failure to hospital resulted in her death on Sunday night. The government has ordered an inquiry. Sarika, 14, daughter of a weaver in Kannigapuram in Kancheepuram, had undergone treatment for renal failure at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), Chennai, a few months ago, officials said.

She suddenly developed breathing problems and was admitted to the Government District Headquarters hospital at Kancheepuram. While the family made the decision at 1.30 pm, the ambulance arrived only around 7.30 pm to take her to Chennai. Her parents said that she died because of the inordinate delay in providing ambulance service.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Track Work Over, Metro to Open Two Stretches in March

The tunnelling work has been completed for the first phase and the stretch is expected to be fully operational by 2018.(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Chennai Metro Rail is gearing up to open two stretches - Nehru Park to Chennai Central and Saidapet to AG-DMS by March 2018 and track work has just been completed.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), track-laying on both stretches was done just a few weeks ago, after tunnelling work was completed. Also, construction of cross-passages, which help passengers exit a tunnel in case of an emergency, was also taken up simultaneously and completed. Between Nehru Park — Chennai Central and Saidapet — AG-DMS segments, tracks were laid for about 4 km and 5 km respectively, an official said.

(Source: The Hindu)