Film actresses among 9 held for prostitution

The Hyderabad Police seem to be relentless
in bringing the wrongdoers in Tollywood to books.
The cops have caught three small time actresses in offences related to prostitution.After their remand, they have been released on bail.
The three heroines informed by the police to the media are Jyothi, Saira Bhanu and Neelamani along with few others. They were caught redhanded by the police as they were involved in prostitution.Apparently, Jyothi and Saira Bhanu have been involved in prostitution in a house near Kundanbagh, close to Minister’s Quarters, in Hyderabad. A raid at the premises was carried out by the police on 21st August night and the actresses were interrogated the whole day on Sunday. The media was briefed about their arrest only on 23rd August, Monday.
                                       

Jyothi, a small time actress has acted in a lot of movies while Saira Bhanu promoted herself from a television anchor to actress in movies like Anaganaga Oka Roju, etc.

The actresses have been released on bail after assurance from family members.

Accused who posed as CM's grandson jumped

CHENNAI: Balaji alias Shashanth, arrested by the Chetpet police recently for posing as a grandson of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi and cheating three persons with promises of swanky cars auctioned at a cheap price by the state government, had done several con jobs in Bangalore earlier, it has been found. The Koramangala police had in February recovered several cars, including a Ford Fiesta, a Maruti Swift, a Toyota Innova and a Skoda, along with a pocket bike and gold valuables worth Rs 3 lakh. He jumped bail there and began operating in Tamil Nadu.

Koramangala police inspector G Nagaraj, who had picked up the accused earlier, told TOI over telephone from Bangalore: "His real name is Sukhas Reddy and he is a resident of Banaswadi in Bangalore."

A pre-University drop-out and a native of Andhra Pradesh, Sukhas, aided and abetted by his parents Chandrasekhar and Mala, who have now gone underground, would surf the internet and get information about government tenders. Armed with the information, he would call companies pretending to be a representative of the department concerned and strike a deal. He would promise to buy products from the companies and ask for a 10% cut to be deposited in his account in advance. Once the money was paid, he would change his mobile number and disappear, said inspector Nagaraj.

He was exposed after an apartment owner on Old Madras Road filed a complaint against Sukhas. Sukhas had rented the flat, claiming to be the son of Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy. He disappeared one fine day without paying the rent, amounting to Rs 1.8 lakh. He used to move around in swanky cars and had even hired a gunman from a security agency in Koramangala, Nagaraj added.

He was proficient in English, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil.

E-waste consignment seized at Chennai port, 5th in 3 months

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday detected the fifth case of e-waste dumping in Chennai. On a tip-off, DRI intercepted a container full of old computer parts, imported from Brunei, at the Container Corporation of India godown at Tondiarpet.

In the last two months, DRI has intercepted five such consignments in Chennai and seized more than 127 tonnes of e-waste, which if dumped could pose serious health hazards to the public and damage to the environment through nickel, mercury and lead poisoning.

DRI officials said Chennai had become a dumping ground for e-waste from Australia, Korea, Canada and Brunei, where the cost of disposal and recycling is high. Many of these countries export their waste to developing countries in connivance with importers. This is then sold to small industries, which extract metals from the waste and dump the hazardous parts.

Late on Thursday, DRI sleuths intercepted a consignment marked for Venus Metals, Nanganallur, from Brunei. The consignment was declared as ‘switch board scrap’. On examination, officials found that the container had 166 used computer monitors, circuit boards, 89 control panels, loose electrical motor parts, broken computer printers and keyboards.

As per rules, the import of e-waste and electrical waste are covered under the Hazardous Waste (Management, Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2008. Their import can be made only with the permission of the ministry of environment and health in addition to a licence from the Director-General of Foreign Trade. None of the five cases detected in Chennai had the relevant papers.

"The chartered engineers, who examined the consignments, reported that they contained goods which were non-functional. Even those which are reusable require extensive refurbishing, which would result in heavy e-waste generation,” DRI additional director general C Rajan said.

Commonwealth Express arrives in Chennai

Southern Railways additional general manager K K Srivastava on Tuesday received the Commonwealth Express at Chennai and declared it open for public viewing from August 18.

The train which had previously made a stop at Secunderabad junction in Hyderabad is a part of the publicity campaign for the Commonwealth Games 2010 to be held in New Delhi. "This train will be in Chennai for three days, during which the public can see the exhibits on display on this train," said Srivastava. "The exhibition train consists of 11 coaches, five of which will showcase the history of the Commonwealth games, famous sportspersons in India and the railways contribution to sports. It will also trace the history of the Queen's Baton Relay," he added.

The remaining six coaches will carry displays of India's progress through the years in the sector of information technology. Dr Santhosh Babu, CEO of Tamil Nadu eGovernance Agency, said, "The Railways was the first harbinger of e-governance on such a massive scale. It is only fitting that this showcasing be a joint venture with the Railways."

The Queen's Baton, similar to the Olympic Torch, carries a message from the Queen of Commonwealth, that is England, and is carried in a relay around all the 70 commonwealth countries before being relayed to the host country where the games are held. The flagging off of the Commonwealth Express in New Delhi by Railways minister Mamata Banerjee coincided with the arrival date of the baton through the Wagah Border from Pakistan on June 24.

Divisional railway manager S Anantaraman said, " The express train will cover 48 cities before returning to New Delhi on the eve of the Commonwealth Games. After Chennai, the train make halts at Puducherry and Madurai before moving onto Thirvananthapuram in Kerala."

The Indian railways is confident of receiving a large footfall in Chennai. "We received around 38,000 footfalls at Secunderabad junction," said Srivastava. "The response has been good in other cities too."

PC's son lands in Youth Cong faction feud

Tamil Nadu Youth Congress (TNYC) president M Yuvaraj on Monday accused Karti P Chidambaram, AICC member and Union home minister P Chidambaram's son, of creating divisions in the party. Yuvaraj called a press meet at the TNCC headquarters here to allege that Karti had distributed Youth Congress membership cards at an event in Nagapattinam recently.

"He wasn't authorised to distribute membership cards. In fact, we have a policy against participation of AICC leaders in Youth Congress events. We consider this an interference by Karti Chidambaram in YC affairs," Yuvaraj, considered a loyalist of Union shipping minister GK Vasan, told reporters.

"When senior leaders like P Chidambaram and TNCC president KV Thangkabalu don't interfere in our affairs, why does he (Karti)?" Yuvaraj asked. He added that the TNYC had sent a complaint to the party high command; based on this, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) general secretary Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is in charge of Tamil Nadu, had sent show-cause notices to Prabhu, a Youth Congress functionary in Nagapattinam, and Varadarajan, TNYC vice-president, for inviting Karti Chidambaram to the event.

Stressing that no TNYC event should be held without the consent of its state and district leaders, Yuvaraj added, "Karti is definitely trying to create factionalism."

Karti Chidambaram, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue. However, Reddy was upset over Yuvaraj going public with the developments. "This is an internal matter!" he said, when contacted. "I had not given Yuvaraj permission to call this press conference and it is unauthorised. Also, there are no complaints against Karti."

Reddy brushed aside the matter of the show cause notices and said, "I have sent show cause notices to several IYC leaders. We have an internal policy against inviting AICC leaders for IYC events. This is merely to have better crowd control. Anybody who violates that guideline gets a show cause notice. This may or may not lead to any action."

Accused who jumped bail after murdering AIADMK cadre held

uburban police have arrested a man who had gone underground after he was let out on bail in connection with the murder of AIADMK cadre M R Ravi which took place in 2006. Ravi was murdered near Thirumangalam while he was traveling with his girlfriend, a small-time actress from Andhra Pradesh.

The arrested person, D Vinayagam alias Vinayagamurthy, is mentioned in the first information report as the third accused in the murder case. He was arrested shortly after the murder and was remanded in prison. But he came out on bail when the case was shifted to the Poonamallee fast track court. He and another accused Kozhi' Ravi then went underground in spite of several warrants issued against him by the fast track court. Meanwhile, Ravi was arrested in 2009. The judge eventually split the case and proceeded with the trial against the other 16 accused, given them double life terms in 2008.

CONSOLING FAMILY: Former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa at the residence of M.R. Ravi, Ambattur AIADMK town secretary, who was murdered.

"We got a tip off about Vinayagam's movements in the city and a special team was formed under Korattur police inspector G Augustin Paul Sudhagar. On Saturday evening, the team intercepted a Tata Indica vehicle bearing Andhra Pradesh registration number (AP 03 AC 8403) near Thirumangalam junction and picked up the occupants. Vinayagam and two others including his girlfriend were in the car. Vinayagam was taken away for interrogation," a police officer said.

Meanwhile, some of Vinayagam's friends on Saturday night sent text messages to many journalists and lawyers, saying he had been taken into custody by the police illegally and that he would be killed in an encounter on Sunday. Police sources said Vinayagam would be remanded and that the fast track court judge would conduct a separate trial for him.

Ravi, who was Ambattur town secretary of AIADMK and a resident of Mogappair, was murdered brutally by a six-member gang at his office on Yadhava Street in Padi on June 2, 2006. The assailants not only shot at him but also hacked him. A few months later, one of the accused, Nagoor Meeran, was killed in a police encounter near Villivakkam. The main accused, Mogappair Raja, the son of a retired IAS officer, was later let off after police found no evidence to substantiate his connivance in the case.

After the murder, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa who visited Ravi's house had said, "Ravi was facing a threat to his life from DMK men even before the Assembly elections (in 2006). As the AIADMK was in power then, he was provided with police protection. However, immediately after the DMK came to power, the protection was withdrawn, resulting in his murder."

Vandalur zoo celebrates silver jubilee

 Schoolchildren crowd around the animal enclosures at Vandalur zoo, pointing and chattering excitedly. Even on a weekday, the zoo is packed. At the chimpanzees' enclosure, Srinivasan watches them with a hawk's eye, ensuring that no one throws plastic and hushing the children gently when they get too noisy.

"These chimps are my friends," says Srinivasan, one of the zookeepers. "I ensure that they are safe and healthy." For him, it's more than just a job. It's been 25 years since Arignar Anna Zoological Park, also known as Vandalur zoo, was thrown open to the public but his association with it dates back even further. He is one of the few old-timers who actually helped set it up.

"G Palani and I began working in 1979," says Srinivasan. Vandalur zoo started out as a menagerie in 1854. "Dr Edward Belford of Madras Museum got some rescued panther cubs and kept them near the museum. It attracted large crowds, so he thought of starting a zoo," says Dr Manimozhi, the zoo biologist.

In 1855, Dr Belford started the Madras zoo on the museum premises, and it was later transferred to the Madras Corporation. It was shifted to People's Park, near Central station in 1861 as it was growing.

"Soon it was necessary to relocate it to an even larger area," says Manimozhi. At People's Park, there was a lot of air and sound pollution, and there was not enough space for the animals. Since many people lived in the area, it posed a health hazard to animals.

Work to shift the Madras zoo to Vandalur Reserve Forest began in 1976. People from surrounding villages were roped in to afforest the area. "There was nothing but scrub jungle, and practically no tree cover," says Palani, who looks after the zebra, giraffe and ostrich. Both he and Srinivasan remember the days when they went scouting for seeds in Chengalpet and the Madras Christian College campus. "We have planted most of the trees here," Palani says proudly, patting the trunk of a nearby tree.

From the zoo director to the ground staff, they're all thrilled to mark the zoo's silver jubilee. "We plan to promote the idea of animal adoption and rope in celebrities. The idea is to create awareness and a love for animals among people," says Dr KSSVP Reddy, zoo director.

Events with students during wildlife week in October and a zookeeper for a day programme are also on the cards. Today, the zoo draw over 16 lakh visitors a year, but old timers like Palani and Srinivasan still remember the early days. "We worked in the scorching sun, making enclosures, putting up signs, creating trails for different species and eco-friendly rest sheds," says Manimozhi, who has been on the staff since 1988. They also developed a record-keeping system with details of the animals brought to the zoo.

Today, the 602-hectare zoo is one of the largest in south-east Asia, with 146 species and 1,376 animals and about 50 keepers tend to them. "When we started work, we were hired to clear bushes and work on the land," says Chelliah, who is eating lunch behind the enclosure for white tigers. Over time and with some training, they began taking care of the animals too. "I had never been with wild animals, but felt no fear," he says.

The keepers are at the zoo by 8.30am. They first check the animals and notify the authorities if anything is amiss. Enclosures are cleaned, water troughs filled and the animals fed. Animals and humans share an easy camaraderie. Gombe and Gowri come ambling when Srinivasan calls out to them. "Clap, Gowri," he says, encouragingly, rewarding the chimp with a banana.

Since the keepers spend all day with the animals, they are a treasure house of information. "Vandalur zoo is the leader of captive breeding programmes for the lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur and Nilgiri tahr. The keepers are an essential part of the programme as they tell us when the animal is in heat or when it is ill," says Manimozhi.

For the keepers, the zoo has become a second home. "When I came, it was for daily wages. Now I have a government job and earn a basic salary of about Rs 6,000," says Chelliah.

Palani adds, "I am here every day from 8.30am to 5.30pm. I come check on the animals even if my children are sick. I can't think of doing any other job."