Tamil Nadu

Coimbatore, Apr 4 (PTI) A man arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a seven-year old girl was thrashed by a section of public at a government hospital here when he was brought there for medical checkup Thursday, police said.

Santhosh Kumar faced the fury of a group of people who rained blows on his face and neck as he was being escorted by police to a van after completion of the check-up.

Coimbatore, Mar 31 (PTI) A 34-year-old man was taken into custody Sunday on charges of sexually assaulting and murdering a minor girl in Pannimadai on the city outskirts, police said.

The accused, Santhosh, a resident of Thondamuthur had confessed to sexually assaulting the 7-year-old girl, living close to his grandmother's house in Pannimadai, before strangling her to death six days ago, they said.

Coimbatore, Mar 26; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Tamil Nadu CPI-M secretary K Balakrishnan Tuesday accused the Election Commission of India of being a puppet in the hands of BJP.

Cases were booked against opposition parties for violating code of conduct even if a candidate garlanded a statue, Balakrishnan told reporters here.

The party would soon submit a memorandum to the chief electoral officer on the need to change the election officers working for long in the same post and appoint news ones for free and fair functioning, he said.

Chennai, Mar 27 (PTI) The Congress party's minimum income guarantee scheme will be rolled out in phases and the five crore beneficiary families will be covered in phases, senior leader P Chidambaram said Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Finance Minister said 'enough' economists and experts in the subject had been consulted and they broadly agreed that India has the capacity to implement the scheme.

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the implementation of the scheme is possible, Chidambaram added.

Madurai, Mar 21 (PTI) The Madras High Court Thursday convicted nine people to life imprisonment in a case related to the attack on the office of Tamil daily 'Dinakaran' here in 2007 in which three men were killed.

Gopinath, Vinoth and Muthuramalingam were killed in the attack on May 5, 2007.

On December 9, 2009, all the 17 people arrested in the case were acquitted of murder charges by a CBI special court.

Later, the CBI, which investigated the case, and Vinoth's mother filed an appeal.

Nagercoil (TN), Mar 13; GANASHAKTI: Launching a frontal attack on the AIADMK-BJP alliance in Tamil Nadu, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi Wednesday alleged the state government was controlled by the Prime Minister's Office, something that has never happened before.

In his first public rally to launch the UPA poll campaign in the southern state, Gandhi said "today, the government in Tamil Nadu is controlled by the Prime Minister's Office."

The accusation has been often repeated by the DMK to target the ruling AIADMK.

Chennai, Mar 13 (PTI) You can't have a negative, fearful atmosphere in the country and expect economic growth, which is directly related to the mood of the country, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday.

Addressing women students at the Stella Maris College here, he said the Congress will change the mood of the country and make people feel happy and empowered.

Chennai, Mar 11 (PTI) Observing that corruption was spreading like "cancer", the Madras High Court asked the Vigilance personnel in Tamil Nadu on Monday to conduct periodical raids in taluk offices, where it said bribe was demanded for issuing every document such as a legal heir certificate.

Chennai, Mar 8 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer Param Vir Chakra, the country's highest military honour, on Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, captured by Pakistan after a dogfight in the skies and released later.

In a letter to Modi, Palaniswami said the IAF pilot, a native of Tamil Nadu, displayed amazing poise and confidence in the face of adverse condition and it would be appropriate he be awarded the highest military honour.

Chennai, Mar 8 (PTI) The three mediators appointed by Supreme Court to resolve the Ayodhya dispute have a common thread -- all hail from Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court Friday referred the politically sensitive case for mediation and appointed retired apex court judge FMI Kalifulla as the head and senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as two other members of the panel for the purpose.