TAMIL NADU ROUNDUP

Beautified Marina beach thrown open to public



Chief Minister M Karunanidhi inaugurated the newly beautified section of the Marina beach in Chennai on December 20.

The section of 3km stretches between the Labour statue and the Lighthouse. It has 14 viewing galleries, spring fountains, landscaped lawns, food courts and a 4mn-wide footpath. This section had been damaged by the 2004 tsunami.

The project cost Rs2.5bn and was partly funded by the federal government.

The Chennai Corporation has imposed fines to deter visitors and hawkers from littering the beach.



Three soldiers among four held for murder



Four men, including three soldiers were arrested for murdering their colleague at the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in the Udhagamandalam hill resort last week.

Police said the victim, identified as Ramasamy, was found dead with stab wounds inside his room. Apparently Ramasamy had been recently promoted, while his colleague Umesh had been demoted and transferred to West Bengal. Umesh hired his relatives from Kerala to stab Ramasamy while he was asleep.



By-election in Pennagaram to be held on Jan 20



The Election Commission has announced that by-election to the Pennagaram assembly constituency in Dharmapuri district will be held on January 20.

The seat fell vacant after sitting legislator P N Periannan of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party died of a heart attack on December 1.

The last date for filing nominations is January 2 and withdrawal on January 6.

The DMK and the opposition PMK, AIADMK and DMDK parties have decided to contest.

The ruling party won the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi assembly elections on December 19.



Fake currency kingpin held



The Tamil Nadu police arrested the kingpin of a fake currency racket in Jharkhand last week.

Reports said Manarul Sheik had circulated fake notes of good ‘quality’ in several cities including Srinagar, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Vishakapatnam. He employed gangs to exchange Rs1,000 and Rs500 notes in the local market and deposit half the genuine notes in his account.

Police tracked down nearly 50 bank deposits and trapped Sheik through a decoy team. They suspect that he might be a front for a foreign crime syndicate.



Commotion over baby swap



Two women who tried to swap their newborn babies were caught at the government maternity hospital in Egmore in Chennai last week.

Reports said Thangam who had two girls decided to exchange her baby girl with Ammu who had delivered a second boy. Ammu gave the boy to Thangam and raised an alarm that he was missing.

However, hospital nurses caught Thangam while trying to escape without an exit pass.

The babies were restored their biological mothers after warnings.



Car in CM’s convoy catches fire



A car in Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s convoy caught fire while he was heading to his daughter’s house at Hebbal in Bangalore last week.