Coimbatore Apr 18 PTI Close on the heels of questioning former AIADMK MLA V C Arukutty two days ago the special investigation team probing the Kodanadu heist-cum-murder case on Monday interrogated the partys Amma Peravai functionary Anubhav Ravi here Ravi is the Coimbatore district joint secretary of the Amma Peravai The key accused in the case Kanagaraj who died in an accident four days after the incident at Kodanadu Estate in Nilgiris district where the security guard Om Bahadur was murdered on April 24 2017 had reportedly made his last phone call to Ravi Based on this the team led by West Zone IG R Sudhakar interrogated Ravi for more than three hours police said Former legislator Arukutty was similarly interrogated on April 15 over the case The estate belonged to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa Ten persons were arrested and are facing trial in Kotagiri Court and nearly 200 people have been questioned in this case PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Mar 29 PTI The carcass of a female wild elephant was found floating in Bhavanisagar Dam catchment area in Sirumugai forest range here forest department sources said on Tuesday Forest department staff and some workers who were on the rounds noticed the carcass on Monday evening and informed the department officials The officials reached the spot along with a veterinarian in Mayilkkai on Tuesday morning and brought the carcass to the shore The veterinary team conducted a post-mortem on the six-year-old elephant and removed the viscera which was sent for further examination to a laboratory they said Suspecting that the elephant might have got into the dam for drinking water due to heat and could not come out after getting caught in the slush the sources said the laboratory report will reveal the cause of the death PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Mar 20 PTI About 8500 chickens and chicks were charred in a fire that broke out in a poultry farm in Annur some 40 kilometres from here police said on Sunday The fire was reported around 8 pm on Saturday in the poultry farm set up in a land belonging to one Ganesh from Ambothi village Fire and rescue service personnel managed to put off the blaze in two hours amidst strong winds as the entire area was covered with thick smoke Some equipment and chicken feeds also got burnt in the fire resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 12 lakh they said Further investigations are on PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Feb 28 PTI The AIADMK could have easily won 85 wards in the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation if the elections were held in a free and fair manner former minister and party whip in the Assembly S P Velumani said here on Monday Addressing a demonstration as part of a state-wide agitation condemning the arrest of senior party leader D Jayakumar Velumani said the DMK had managed to win a majority of the seats through fraudulent means with the help of officials and police department The officials had diverted the votes received by the AIADMK to the DMK and the ruling partys polled votes to the AIADMK thereby murdering democracy he alleged The people will not vote for the ruling party as it has not brought in any schemes for their benefits in the last nine months Velumani said The civic body has a total of 100 wards and the DMK-led front won 96 seats in the local body elections The AIADMK won three seats He said the agitation was being held to condemn the attitude of the state government in foisting false cases against AIADMK workers and also seeking to implement the schemes started by the previous regime Stating that Jayakumar had caught red-handed a rowdy with 12 cases against him while trying to indulge in bogus votes Velumani said the government has put the accused man in hospital and sent Jayakumar to jail MLAs Amman Arjunan Arunkumar K R Jayaram Amul Kandaswami A K Selvaraj Sulur Kandaswami Damodharan were among more than 1000 party workers who participated in the demonstration PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Feb 25 PTI A 57-year-old man who had contested and lost the elections in the recently held local body polls was found hanging at his house in Tirupur district on Friday police said Mani a Makkal Needhi Maiam candidate had lost in the just-concluded municipal corporation election in Tirupur Preliminary investigation revealed that Mani a loadman had borrowed Rs 50000 cash from many persons for contesting the elections and was upset after polling only 44 votes and thereby losing the deposit On Thursday night Mani was found in an inebriated condition and his wife fought with him and left home police said Neighbours knocked on the door on Friday morning but there was no response Immediately they broke open the door and found Mani hanging Police rushed to the spot and sent it for a post-mortem to the government hospital there PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Feb 23 PTI Citing irregularities during the counting of votes in Ward 32 of Coimbatore City Corporation which was won by the DMK the losing candidates on Wednesday submitted a joint petition requesting the district collector to order re-polling immediately Alleging that an EVM was changed and missing during counting day on Tuesday 13 candidates including from the AIADMK and BJP walked out from the room and staged a dharna on the premises seeking action A day after the results were announced all the candidates arrived at the collectorate on Wednesday morning and submitted a petition seeking re-election to the ward They said a rope tied around the EVM handle was found loose and the seal was removed The election officials present there remained silent when the issue was brought to their notice at the counting centre the petition said Without providing the code number to the candidates the officials had started counting the votes and there were changes in the signatures of booth agents the petition said The counting centre experienced power cuts from midnight to 3 am on Tuesday in the rooms where the EVMs were kept In this background it becomes clear that there were irregularities in the process and the administration should order a re-election to the ward the petitioners contended PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Feb 18 PTI In a freak accident a lorry driver was run over and died under his own truck parked at a petrol pump in Kaduvvettipalayam on the outskirts here in the early hours of Friday police said According to police Suresh Babu 50 from Salem district had loaded goods from an e-commerce company onto the vehicle and parked his truck in the petrol pump in Karumathapatti limits around 20 kilometres from here at 1 am Some motorists noticed Babu lying dead near the rear tyres of the truck and informed police who rushed to the spot and found the vehicle engine was running Suspecting the case to be a murder police checked the CCTV footage from a camera placed opposite the petrol pump and noticed that Babu was run over by the truck It came to light that Babu had not applied the hand brake in the truck and got down to answer natures call He noticed the vehicle moving and ran to try and stop the truck from the front but came under the wheels they said The body was brought to the government hospital here and further investigations are on police added PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Jan 25 PTI Efforts are on for the second day to capture a leopard that had attacked two farmers in Pappankulam area in neighbouring Tirupur district In the process of trying to tranquilise it or put it in a cage a forest department official sustained injuries as the wild animal suddenly attacked the person during the operation police said on Tuesday According to them 60-year-old Varadarajan went to his farm in the early hours on Monday when the big cat pounced on him and mauled his shoulder Soon after another farmer Maran who went to the fields to answer natures call was also attacked by the same animal causing injuries to his face they said Both the men have been hospitalised After the attack on the two farmers the department on Monday deployed nearly 50 personnel including anti-poaching squads and placed three cages with 15 cameras across the sprawling maize farm A medical team sitting in a crane is moving around the area with darts to tranquilise the animal for nearly two hours but to no avail till now they said The department suspects that the leopard might be hiding in a deep bushy area or migrated to any other place in the dense forest areas in Bhavani Sagar or Sathyamangalam police said The department and police issued strict warning to the residents not to come out of the house and also not to send children to play outside they added PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Jan 23 PTI Police arrested three alleged ganja peddlers and seized 18 kilograms of the contraband from a car here in the early hours of Sunday The seizure was made during a vehicle check on Vincent Road when police intercepted a speeding car and found bags stuffed with the banned substance upon searching it Preliminary inquiry revealed that the ganja was meant to be supplied among students in various colleges police said The accused were identified as Abdul Samad from Coimbatore Vinod Kumar from Kambam in Theni district and Arunkumar from Andipatti in Theni district The three men were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody they said PTI NVM HDA HDA

Coimbatore Jan 22 PTI With increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the district Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Senthil Balaji on Saturday inaugurated a special ward with oxygen-bed facility in ESI Hospital here An additional 200 beds including 28 with oxygen facility were opened in the ESI Hospital in the last 72 hours as a precautionary measure Balaji told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration An oxygen concentrator to produce 100 litres of oxygen in a minute donated by Rotary Club was also inaugurated he said Reacting to the raids on the premises of former AIADMK ministers he said the DMK was fulfilling its election promises through which action was being taken against those involved in corruption Stating that AIADMK ministers had enlarged their size of assets in the last five years as compared to the election nominations in 2016 and 2021 the minister asked what was the reason for such an increase in these years Balaji said he will discuss the matter of a total lockdown on Sunday with the district collector later this evening and come out with the guidelines and restrictions PTI NVM HDA HDA