CRIME & NEWS STORIES OF TAMIL NADU (INDIA)
By T Kannamala
Author : News Chase : Thrills, frills & perils of News Reporting
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HP NEWS SERVICE
Harrington Post News Service (HPNS), a Tamil Nadu (India) based news Wire Service is currently featuring highlights of solved/unsolved crimes, and human interest stories, with delicious twists in each tale, narrated crisply to international standards.
A column of reputed forensic expert Padma Bhushan Dr. Prof. P Chandra Sekharan will be an added attraction.
HPNS is being edited by former Chennai Press Club President - K.M. Thomas, a senior journalist, with over three decades of experience in several leading publications in the country. Thomas is being supported by another senior journalist TSV Hari.
Some of the news/feature from our vast collection of stories are listed below. If any individual, institution or publication is interested in more details or require any specific news items/stories, please call Vinodh 9840036084/044-26742991or contact hpweekly@gmail.com
THE LIST & GIST OF CRIME FOCUSED NEWS STORIES
001. Muster Roll Scandal of Tamil Nadu :The Rs.1.26 crore muster roll scandal broke out in Tamil Nadu in the 1970s. The government had spent another Rs.45 lakh on investigation, conducting the trial in the special court for 20 months, contesting the appeal in the high court and going on appeal to the Supreme Court. Despite the Supreme Court finding 75 accused persons guilty in this case, nothing happened to them.The scamsters claimed that they were entitled to the remission of jail term, since they stood convicted during the period, and deemed to be convicts, though not actually in the jail. They also argued that they had continuously attended the court for 600 working days, which also should be considered as `judicial custody’. The Madras High Court upheld this argument and ordered that the accused persons need not suffer any imprisonment.
001A. Misdirected fury kills innocents at the Airport :The young man was angry. He wanted to do something terrible against the government for the `indignities meted out to his people’. He enrolled himself in the Chennai flying club. He wanted to fly an aircraft with explosives to Sri Lanka and bomb the Kattunayaka Airport. Later Panagoda Maheswaran changed his mind. He decided to load explosive laden suitcases in to a Sri Lanka bound flight from Chennai, with the timer set to go off after it landed. But the suitcases blasted in the Chennai airport itself, killing 33 persons and seriously injuring 27 at the Meenambakkam Airport.
002. Kidnap & Murder of Ex.MLA for ransom :The goons wanted immediate payment of three million rupees for a `contract’ killing they had executed three months ago. The victim was the student’s wing secretary of a political party. The master-mind behind the heinous act was quick to device the means to raise the funds. He arranged to kidnap a rich former MLA for ransom. And they killed him too, when he refused to pay, and cremated the body in the government burial ground using a fake death certificate.
003. A perfect murder :A jewelry shop assistant, Nemichand, planned a perfect crime of murder and jewel theft, months before it was executed. All possible sources of evidences had been plugged.The victim's body was chopped and disposed. But he was ignorant of the `unusual behaviour' of the invisible radio waves present at the murder spot. This freak technological aberration helped the police to locate the crime scene with clinical precision. Within hours, the cold trail of a premeditated brutal murder of a jeweler, and theft of jewellery worth a minor fortune in Indian currency – INR 3 million [approximately US$ 60,000] had been solved. And the entire stolen jewellery, besides a gold chain worn by the victim recovered.
004. Murder case of Dr.Saravanan, Ex.Tamin Chairman : The crime reporters of Chennai, had known since 1980s, that Dr.Saravanan, then Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Minerals, was stashing a lot of money abroad. Despite a public interest litigation in the Madras High Court, and several articles in the media, nothing happened to him. He retired from service with all attendant benefits.
Thirteen years later, he was found murdered with his wife, and a servant girl. The case was a curious one. It became more curious, when the Madras High Court found that there was not credible evidence to convict the four persons arrested in this case.
'This case has the potential to expose the loot of Rs.20 lakh crore plus (US $ 333 billion) of natural resources', according to TSV Hari, the most knowledgeable person about the granite export from Tamil Nadu.
004A. The killer Lady Doctor : A women medical doctor Omana Edadan, 56, from Kerala has used her medical and surgical skills to kill her man-friend, severed his limbs and partially disposed of the dismembered organs in a few places in Tamil Nadu. Thanks to the tip-off from a taxi driver, she was arrested, and the case is going on in aCoimbatore court. Meanwhile, Omana came out on bail and vanished. The Interpol had issued a look out notice for the doctor.
004B. Mysterious death of a young film actress : Screaming headlines in the morning newspapers on March 18, 1974, announced the death of Miss Vijayshree, a young and upcoming cine-artiste, shocking a large section of public, especially young cine-goers. The readers were informed how after a business-cum-lunch meeting with a motion picture producer, Miss -X'-Shree’ returned home with her guests. Later in the evening, she was removed to a nursing home and then to the hospital for symptoms of poisoning. She was declared dead on arrival by the duty medical officer.
004C. The mysterious disappearance and death of a retired School Head Master : This sensational case was kept undetected for a year without any clue by the local Police, which was cracked by the CB CID., Thiruvannamalai Unit within 75 days.
005. Pethedine murders & Robbery : A Madras based nine member gang had kidnapped and murdered seven shady gold and hawala operators between October 1970 and 1972 and robbed gold and cash worth several lakhs of rupees. Then, they unwittingly touched the agent of a leading smuggler and robbed his gold... and soon nemises caught up with them.
005A.MURDER IN TRIVENI ACADEMY : A combination of Shoddy investigation, road blocks by vested interests and reluctance by responsible academicians to part with information had made it impossible to crack this case. The death of a student at the Triveni Academy is one such case. The sprawling 800 acre Triveni Academy near Chennai is an independent academic enclave, with its own administrative and related set up to enforce discipline amongst youngsters. Local residents walked past the place with awe and admiration. It housed the wards of some well heeled and upper middle class families in the country. The academy has been functioning since 1987 and it had during July 1993 about 1660 students, including 328 girls in July 1993. One of the resident students, Sumit Bhattachariya, studying in the IX standard, was found dead in the bath room on July 18, 1993.The case is still under investigation.
006.Auto Sankar and his serial murders : In the year 1988, within a span of six months, there were nine cases of mysterious disappearance of teenage girls, mostly from poor families, in Chennai Thiruvanmiyur area. Initially, the police and parents the youngsters would have ran away from home in filmy style. The initial tip off came with with a complaint from a school girl, Subalakshmi. She claimed that an auto-rickshaw driver tried to kidnap her near a wine shop in the locality. The lid blew off- with the detection of a series of murders, and burial of the bodies in the huts where the gang leader lived.
007.The case of the missing woman teacher : On October 19, 2004, Meenakshi, 31, a school teacher was reported missing. She used to commute between the school and home on her TVS-50 moped. Sustained investigation revealed that she was knocked down from the scooter by two roudy elements, dragged in to a nearby farm, raped and murdered.
007A. Jailor gets death punishment for doing his job : Jail may appear to be a fun-filled place when shown in movies and tele-serials. But the reality is far removed and harsh. An assistant jailor of Madurai Central prison paid with his life – for performing his mandatory duty of frisking a prisoner.
008.TRIPLE MURDERS WITH CYANIDE POISONING : Many murderers get away with the crime by cleverly deflecting the cause of death. This happens during communal riots, natural calamities and staging fake accidents. A farmer Palani struck upon a new idea. He found out that his wife had an illicit relationship with his neighbour and decided to kill him. It was a time when hooch tragedies were regularly making news in the media. The clever farmer thought it was the easiest way to get rid of the debauching neighbour. He did not care that two innocents also had to die with the targeted victim to make it appear like a liquor tragedy.
009. `Suicide’ turns out to be murder : Cases of women who die of burns or set themselves ablaze hardly merit a single column report in the media, because of the plethora of cases frequently reported. The death of Kasthuri,45, wife of Thanikachalam of Saidapet too was dismissed by the local police as one such case. She was found at her residence on Bazar Lane with burns on February 14, 2006, and was rushed to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, where she succumbed to burns. It later proved to be a case of murder.
010. Assassination of Robert Ashe ICS : On 17th June, 1911, Robert WDE Ashe, the District Collector and Magistrate of Tinnevelly (Tirunelveli) and his wife Mary Lillian had boarded the first class compartment of the Madras bound Boat Express Train. They were on the way to a holiday resort Kodaikanal in Madurai district. A crowd had gathered to have a glimpse of the ‘Dorai’ – a respectful term the nativesused for the British. Two young men – one of them neatly dressed with tufted hair, and another wearing a dhoti and a shirt – entered the compartment. One of them fired at Ashe point-blank with an automatic Belgian-made Browning Pistol, killing him instantly.
010A. Child sacrifice to appease God : On July 6, 1980, three-year-old Rajendran and four-year-old Nallusamy had gone out to play on the streets of Veppanthattai village in Tiruchirappalli district. The children never returned home. Both had to be killed because they witnessed an illicit relationship beween two prominent people in the area.
11.Murder `strategy’ to win Panchayat Election : Some politicians will go to any extent to win an election, including murder, as events unfolded during the investigation of this case revealed. During a hotly contested election to the Thirupachethy Panchayat in 2001, one of the candidates learnt that his defeat was certain.. He was advised that voter’s sympathy could be turned in his favour by staging a murder attempt on one of his supporters. His cousin T.Ganesan with his henchmen decided to `create a sympathy wave’ in favour of Ramalingam by staging a murderous attach on Vellaisamy, a leading supporter campaigning for Ramalingam. They executed the plan on Octorber 15, 2001 night.Unfortunately, a misplaced stabbing proved fatal, and Vellaisamy was brought dead to the local government hospital.
012. BOGUS BISHOP ANANDARAJ (2002) : In the name of religion, a conman cheats gullible contractors crores of money. Anandaraj, founder of Mollin Mission Church has plotted an elaborate fraud, and cheated people of crores of rupees. On August 16, 2002 at Mollin Mission Church Perur, Mamalapuram, the accused, Anandaraj and his associate, Suresh Kumar (who subsequently turned into an approver), and others were arrested.
012A.The Cheating Spree of Bogus priest Job Saravanan (2006) : A school drop out, Saravanan, first appointed himself a Christian Priest, and later gave himself a promotionas Bishop. With the higher credibility, this ninth standard drop out, milked the gullible in a bigger way! Saravanan, a Hindu from, Mettur, Salem District came down to Chennai along with his family in 1984, and worked as Gas Agency mechanic for Rs.350/-. He claimed he attempted to commit suicide, unable to live on this paltry salary, but Lord Jesus appeared before him and dissuaded from it. So he got himself converted into Christianity. That was the beginning of a prosperous career in cheating, till the police arrested him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
13.SWAMI PREMANANDA MAHARAJ, HIS TIMES AND CRIMES: The court awarded two terms of life imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment for one year, to the main accused Premananda which were to run consecutively. He was also imposed a fine of Rs.66.40 lakhs and a substantial portion of the fine amount had been ordered to be disbersed to the victims.
14..The Lakshimikantham murder case : This 70 year old murder case still remain fresh in the minds of people, because of its filmy connections. The accused persons in the case were some of the leading stars of the silver screen in 1940s. The elements of sleaze in the film world, yellow journalism and murder plot had made it as gripping as some film scripts of later years..
15.Vijayan Murder Case : The car that had been tailing businessman Vijayakumar’s car for quite some time forcefully banged it from behind as he was traversing Chennai Turnbulls Road. Angry and shaken, the 53-year old foster son-in-law of matinee idol and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, late M.G.Ramachandran got out of his car bracing up for a fight with the occupants of the car behind him.
16. Arrest of dreaded Sansi dacoits : The nine member Sansi gang from Delhi struck terror in the minds of people living in Chennai suburbs during 1983.The masked gang, armed with crow bars, wooden logs and boulders targeted isolated houses in Chengalpet East and West District during dark nights, broke open the doors, beat up the inmates and decamped with cash and jewels. As many as 13 families fell victims to the dreaded gang of dacoits. A retired Commandant of Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion, D.A.S. Chandra, was clubbed to death when he resisted the intruders in his house at Avadi and his wife was robbed of gold jewels.
17.MURDER IN THE RUNNING TRAIN : The Thirupathi bound Nagercoil- Thirupathi/Mumbai express train was moving out of Tirunelveli junction on January 13, 2008 at 0632 hours, when a passenger pulled the alarm chain. On the report that a passenger with stab injuries was found in the reserved coach S -9, railway officials removed him to the platform and summoned the Railway doctor. The doctor who examined the injured person around 0730 hrs had declared that the passenger had died of multiple stab injuries. The railway police registered a case of murder, and began the investigation. As no breakthrough could be achieved, it was
transferred to the CBCID,Tirunelveli on August 15, 2008, and later to the CBCID., Madurai City.
18.Ganesh Iyer dupes Archbishop Dr.Arulappa (1975): This is a hilarious story where a pious church leader, innocent of the ways of the world, was taken for a ride by a clever crook. The twists and turns in the episode would make one sympathise with the gullibility of the victim, and cheer the crook for his cleverness. Unfortunately, the gullibility of the Archbishop caused a loss of nearly 14 lakh of rupees to the Madras-Mylapore Diocese. A fairly big sum in the mid 1970s, when gold was sold at around Rs.400/- per sovereign.
19.Dindigul Doctor kidnapped for Rs.five crore ransom and killed : The elderly medical doctor Bhaskaran,72, of Dindigul enjoyed his early morning tennis sessions at the local Cosmopolitan Club. As usual, on April 30, 2009, he left his residence on Dindigul J.A.M.C. Road for the Club just across the road to play tennis. He never returned home. As he was crossing the road, a Tata Sumo vehicle screeched to a halt, a few men jumped out of the vehicle, pushed him in to the car and sped away. His decomposed body was recovered a week later under a river bridge.
20.Forty two refugees burnt to death :Gory death scenes with mutilated bodies strewn around are not unknown to policemen. But even the veterans in the police team that visited Keela Venmani were stunned. They gazed in disbelief as charred, contorted bodies were being brought out from a small burnt hut in Keela Venmani village. The final body count was – two men, 18 children and 22 women. The 42 people, who were roasted alive, had been victims of a socio-economic conflict, fanned by politics that plagued the Thanjavur area on the Cauvery delta since late 1940s.
21.Murder of housewife at Sholinghur : Women staying alone at home during day time have been easy victims for criminals. Mrs. Shanthi, 61, wife of Advocate K.S.B. Shanmugam, of Sholinghur was one such unfortunate victim. She was alone in her house on Post Office Road, Sholinghur on April 23, 2004 forenoon, when two intruders in to the house strangled her to death with a towel, and robbed off her gold `mangal sutra’ and four bangles totally weighing about 12 sovereigns. The criminals who gained entry through the main door, later confessed that one of them dressed like an ‘Advocate’s Clerk’(Gumastha) in black pants and white shirt to avoid any suspicion to possible onlookers in the busy residential and commercial area.
22.Actor M.R.Radha shoots MGR: In several super hit Tamil movies of 1960s, Matinee idol M.G.Ramachandran, 50, (MGR) had been the hero and `Nadigarvel’ M.R.Radha, 57, (MRR) the villain. Unfortunately, MRR carried this rivalry in reel world too far in to real life as well, as certain later events proved. On a January evening in 1967, he called on MGR at his residence and shot him point blank with a revolver. Then he turned the gun on himself and shot in a bid to commit suicide. As fate would have it, both of them survived. (Why they survived close range shooting is another story).
23.16 LIFE SENTENCES IN A SINGLE KIDNAPPING & MURDER CASE: They successfully kidnapped the Ex.MLA for ransom. But the kidnappers soon found that they had chewed more than they could bite when they tried to negotiate a financial settlement for his release. Threats and torture did not work with him. Fearing severe reprisal, if let out alive, they killed him and `legally’ disposed of the body.
24.Alavandar Murder Case : The headless torso in the`boat express train’ at Manamadurai and the head found in the carton off Royapuram beach fitted perfectly thus proving that they were of the same body. Further proof came in the form of army records that had Alavandar’s fingerprints. Devaki and her husband were located in Bombay and their arrest and custodial interrogation revealed that because of the persistent lustful advance, threat and blackmail of Alavandar, Devaki in collaboration with her husband, lured Alavandar to their house and stabbed him to death.
25.GUN FIGHT AT T.NAGAR: The silence of the night was shattered by pistol shots, sending the unwary on-lookers scurrying for cover. It took a while for them to comprehend what they had been witnessing; for such incidents were unheard of in Tamil Nadu until then. Guns were spitting fire to settle a bitter rivalry between two militant Sri Lankan Tamil groups, viz., LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and PLOTE (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam).
26. VALENTINE DAY SERIAL BLASTS IN COIMBATORE THAT KILLED 58 INNOCENTS: A series of 13 explosions rocked the Coimbatore city in half-an-hour, planned and executed with text book precision, in various public places like Bus-stands, Railway Station, Hospitals, and vehicle stands. The bombs took the unsuspecting avatars of pipes, cartons, boxes, bags, push-carts loaded with fruits, two-wheelers, cars, etc. It took a toll of 47 lives on that day alone! Two more explosions occurred on the next day and one, two days thereafter, taking 11 more lives. In all, 58 people including 12 Muslims were killed and 250 people including 17 Muslims were injured. The prime target BJP leader L K Advani had a providential escape because of the delayed arrival of his flight.
28.Cops jailed for rape and custodial violence : A few police personnel of the Annamalai police station thought they had unbridled powers and could get away with a gang rape in custody. Sadly for them, the wheels of justice grind slowly, but surely and caught up with them. The perpetrators are cooling their heels in the prison for their dastardly act. Young Padmini of Annamalai Nagar in Chidambaram hailed from humble stock. She was living the mundane life as the second wife of a local barber, when she got a job in the Annamalai University as Sweeper.
29.Hosur Gang-rape and Dacoity : Frightening dream and events are called nightmares, and we watch such scenes in movies too. But Govindaraj of Midigirippalli village near Hosur and his family experienced it in the wee hours of November 22, 1995 when dacoits literally knocked on their door.As there was no response, the gang broke open the main door with a boulder, tied up Govindaraj in the ceiling hook after causing injuries on his chest. Then, they gang-raped his 38 year old wife, and 17 year old daughter at knife point. After the heinous act, the marauders decamped with Rs. 500/- cash, 28 grams of gold jewels and three wrist watches - all worth Rs. 10,000/-. They had also broke into and took away the electronic watch, a small Philips Radio, Shirt, Belt, Pen torch and a key bunch from the room of one Balamani, a student of ITI, Hosur, who was staying in a room next to Govindaraj’s house.
30.Custodial Rape of Rita Mary : In the murky world of immoral trafficking, young Rita Mary, 19, landed up as an unfortunate victim. She was kidnapped and sold by an Erode based pimp to Attur Eswari, a brothel keeper for Rs.2,000/-. Trapped in the flesh trade, she changed several hands before finally landing in a brothel at Tindivanam, run by one Shanti. Unable to bear the rigors and indignities of being a sex worker, Rita tried to escape from the clutches of Shanthi with the help of a sympathetic customer whom she befriended. As Rita was about to make good her escape on October 29, 2001, she was intercepted by Shanthi and her henchmen which resulted in a big quarrel and commotion. The police arrived on the scene, booked all of them under the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act and remanded Rita to judicial custody at Ginjee Sub-jail.
31.M.R.Radha shot MGR on January 12, 1967, after a brief altercation and also turned his gun on himself. Both were admitted in Royapettah Hospital, and both recovered soon. The case came up in the Madras High Court, where despite MRR’s advocate Vaanamaamalai’s efforts, the verdict (pronounced on November 4, 1967) was 7 years rigorous imprisonment. Justice Mr PR Gokulakrishnan was then the public prosecutor. MRR’s appeal to the Supreme Court got him a reduced term of 5 years.
32 : Why MGR did not die : An important forensic evidence in the case was not put forth to the court mainly due to the reason that police and prosecution thought that ‘evidence’ may lead to the discussion ‘why MGR did not die even though Radha shot him from close range at vital parts and that discussion will arouse the sentiments of thousands of MGR’s fans and may create problems. Forensic Expert Prof Chandra Sekharan explains why MGR, and Radha himself did not die, despite the shots from very close range.
33.Mass production of fake SSL Certificates (1962): In the late 1950s and early 60s, every Government establishment and private enterprise insisted that their employees should be at least of S.S.L.C. Standard. A few could not clear the hurdle, took a short-cut. They brought ready-made certificate, and got over the situation and enjoyed, till the law caught up with them.
*A misfired land grabbing conspiracy (1999): Time and again, the police are dealing with complaints regarding land grabbing. A group of land-grabbers, led by a local don Natarajan tampered with the records at the office of the Joint Sub-Registrar-II, Saidapet, and created a fake sale deed for landed property in Kottivakkam Kuppam Road, Vaalmigi Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur. This land, worth crores, had been voluntarily surrendered to the Government by late K.N.Anantharaman ICS, when the Urban Land Tax and Urban Land Ceiling Act came into force in Tamil Nadu.
34.A failed attempt to grab 83.33 acres of temple property at Trisulam, Chennai. A gang of five, including a serving Assistant Settlement officer (Revenue) scripted a fraud theme to grab over 83.33 acres of temple land near Chennai city, worth several crores of rupees. The culprits moved even the Madras High Court twice, hoping for a favourable order. But they failed. Some of the surviving accused are facing criminal charges.
35. Short cut to earn Rs.10 crore worth assets flops: This is a case where a millionaire widow, Ammani Ammal, of AP, was criminally confined by her Chennai relatives and obtained her signature on several documents, to divest her of the property ownership.
36.THEFT OF VALUABLES POSTAL PARCELS: A group of Postal employees decided to remove the Postal Orders, Cheques and foreign currencies from foreign countries, sent to charitable institutions in Tamil Nadu. As most of the foreign postal parcels were not registered, it was impossible to keep track of the movement of the postal items. Then the police and officers of the postal department noticed that several of their employees were living beyond their means. And the fraud soon came to light.
37.TAKING THE TREASURY FOR A RIDE : Anticipating a huge purchase of Tamil typewriters by the Government departments in the wake of a Government Order mandating the use of Tamil for all correspondences, a small group of conmen simulated supply of Tamil typewriters backed by forged job orders and invoices and siphoned off large funds from the exchequer.
38.BACHELOR OF IMPERSONATION ! (1969) : Dr. Kotiah had great plans for his son. After graduationhis son Chenchiah found no difficulty in securing a safe berth in the Diploma Course in Pharmacy at the Madras Medical College. However, his innings as a medical student came to a premature end after the University authorities, found out that someone else wrote the examination for him!
39. The Urea scam of 1996: The Fertilizer trade has been a profitable hunting ground for unscrupulous businessmen. There was a shortage of Urea in 1996 and a group of `businessmen’ found it an opportunity to make some quick money. In connivance with top officials of the National Fertiliser Limited, they siphoned off Rs.133 crore of government money for the import of urea, which was never delivered.
40.GOLD QUEST CASES (2008) : M/s. Gold Quest International Pvt. Ltd. was founded by Dato Vijay Eswaran, S/o.Vijayarathinam, Malaysian Citizen with Headquarters at Hong-Kong and branches in more than 120 countries worldwide. The company commenced it operation in India in 2001 with its Headquarters at Chennai. In 2003, the Chennai City registered the first case against the operators.
41.FAKE BAIL ORDERS TO RELEASE CRIMINALS : An Advocate presents `high court’ orders to prison authorities to get some of his ex.clients released from jail
42. Mystery of youths missing from Tirunelveli area.
43. Cases of murder, riots, terrorism and kidnapping against LTTE members
44. Theft of jewellery from Thenthiruperai temple in Tirunelveli
45. Blast in Ariyalur railway bridge, causing derailment of Rock Fort Express, leading to the death of 26 passengers, and injury to over 140 on board.
46. Fraud in Chennai Kandasamy Naidu College semester examination
47. Palani Baba murder case
48. Mystery of Nagapattinam Nagappa Thevar murder case
49. Russo murder case.
50. Sub Inspector Soman murder case :Sub Inspector Soman, in charge of the Pannur police station, Kerala, was found dead inside the police station with three gun shot wounds. Local police dismissed it as a case of suicde. A CBI inquiry revealed that the SI was murdered by three of his subordinates. They were convicted and sentenced to life term, but on appeal, acquitted by the Kerala High Court.
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