13 bonded labourers rescued

Thirteen persons, including four children, who were engaged as bonded labourers in a brick kiln near Veppanahalli in Krishnagiri district were rescued on Tuesday.

Revenue Divisional Officer R. Sathish told the reporters that a team led by him, along with volunteers of the Bangalore-based International Justice Mission (IJM), raided the kiln and rescued the 13 persons belonging to three families.

The raid was on the basis of information provided by labourers rescued earlier from other places of work in the area.

The RDO said that Nagaraj, the owner of kilns at Balanapalli near Theertham in Veppanahalli block, had given a total of around Rs.2 lakh to the three families and engaged them for manufacturing raw bricks and related work.

They were paid weekly wages of Rs.200 to Rs.300.

The family members were not permitted to attend family functions or participate in festivals in their native Puliampatti village in Palacode Taluk.

They were made to toil from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., flouting the Tamil Nadu Minimum Wages Act and the Bonded Labourers System (Abolition) Act, the official said.

According to the Minimum Wages Act Act, one has to be paid a minimum of Rs.114 a day for eight hours' work.

Those rescued were E. Marappan (27), his wife M. Sarasu (26), sister-in-law M. Anandalakshmi (14), his children M. Dhanalakshmi (7), M. Suriya (6) and M. Prabhu (4), M. Sokkan (45), his wife S. Bairamma (35), S. Madhesh (35), S. Mahalakshmi (15), S. Siva (9) M. Govindaraj (46), P. Veerabadran (22) and his wife V. Madhavi (19).

The nine adults will be paid Rs.1000 as immediate compensation.

The district administration will request the government for Rs.20,000 more as compensation, Mr. Sathish said.

A case would be registered against the brick kiln owner under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.

Esther Daniel, director, Case Work in International Justice Mission (IJM) told The Hindu that the organisation would take steps to protect the rights of the rescued labourers.

Heavy police protection for rally

Heavy police protection was given for the rally and demonstration of HOSTIA demanding power holiday and uninterrupted power supply in Hosur on Tuesday. As many as 690 police personnel drawn from Armed Reserve Police, Law and Order from nearby Dharmapuri, Salem and Namakkal were mobilized for security duty. The Deputy Inspector General of Police, Salem Range Sanjay Kumar was in Hosur to oversee security arrangements.

The arrangements were coordinated by four Superintendents of Police Abishek Dixit (Krishnagiri), Amitkumar Singh (Dharmapuri), Ashwin M. Kotnis (Salem) and M. Sathiya Priya (Namakkal).

Besides these, two Additional Superintendents of Police S.R.Senthil Kumar (Krishnagiri) and P. Saravanan (Dharmapuri) and twenty-five Deputy Superintendents of Police, inspectors, sub inspectors and Armed Reserve Police personnel from all the four districts in the range were also involved in security arrangements.

An office bearer of HOSTIA told The Hindu that the DIG, SPs and the District Collector had a day-long discussion on Monday and gave permission to conduct rally from Veilankanni School on Thalli Road to TANGEDCO office on Royakottai Road avoiding National Highways.

Gandhi Adigal Police medal for S.R. Senthilkumar, Additional Superintendent

S.R. Senthilkumar, Additional Superintendent, Crime (in charge), PE Wing, Krishnagiri District,was given the Gandhi Adigal Police medal for commendable work towards curbing illicit liquor along with four other Policemen from Tamil Nadu CM Dr.J.Jayalalithaa on At the 63rd Republic Day celebration on the Marina on Thursday

Pongal bull race (Manjuvirattu) kill three people

Bull races held as part of the Pongal festival claimed two lives in Krishnagiri district and one at Munjur village in Vellore taluk Tuesday.

Madhu, 37, of Kittampatti and Mani, 18, of Periamanavarampatti were injured in an attack by raging bulls during an erudottam in Krishnagiri district. They later succumbed to injuries.

According to the event organizers, Erudottam is an event when bulls are decorated with colourful ribbons and accessories and brought to the local temple for participating in the race.

“Each bull will be allowed to charge following drum beats and large crowds gather to watch the event. In some cases, cash rewards are tied to the horns of these bulls, but it is not a competition like jallikattu,” the organizers said.

Besides Erudottam, bull racing was also conducted in several villages in Krishangiri district and neighbouring areas as part of Pongal celebrations. These races carry a modest cash reward and bulls are specifically trained to participate in this event, which is banned in some parts of the state.

Murugan, a villager from Krishangiri, who raises bulls to participate in these races says, “We provide good training and special food to these bulls to participate in the races. The racing bulls are not allowed to work in the fields and are transported only in tempo travelers to ensure maximum safety.”

Man watching bull race gored to death

Raja, a 24- year-old youth, was gored to death by a bull during a race held without permission in Munjur at around 2.15 pm. He was an employee of a private company in Chennai. Raja was rushed to the government hospital, but died on the way, police said.

The bull broke out of the ring and ran into a group of spectators. Raja was attacked by the animal and gored just above the abdomen.

Police arrested four organisers of the race and was looking for three who are on the run.

Meanwhile, around 15 persons were injured in another bull race organised illegally in Keelmottukur village.

Couple, associate arrested for cheating

A middle-aged couple and their business associate were arrested in connection with the cheating many innocent investors of crores of rupees in guise of doubling/trebling money in Krishnagiri on Wednesday.

Mr. K. Aaasaithambi, Inspector, District Crime Branch told The Hindu that the couple N. Kannan (45) and his wife K. Meenakshi (33) hailing from Vahab Nagar near Government Arts College for Women and their business associate Mr. Ravichandran (46) from Royakottai had lured many innocent investors to deposit Rs. 6,500 and get back Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000 from the smart cards directly from the ATMs of banks.

One P. Munusamy (41) from Sengodapatti village near Palacode in Dharmapuri district had deposited Rs. 6.5 lakhs believing the words of the couple and their business associate some months back.

Though the alleged cheaters had promised to swipe the amount from ATM, Mr. Munusamy couldn’t get even a rupee using the smart card issued by the company.

Mr. Munusamy couldn’t contact the company over phone. Hence, he came to the company in person on Tuesday and claimed his deposit and raised his voice.

As he insisted to repay his deposit, the couple and their business associate attacked him and thrashed him out of the office.

Anger over this, Mr. Munusamy lodged a complaint to the District Crime Branch at the Office of the Superintendent of Police. Based on his complaint, the couple and his business associate were arrested by the DCB. Rs. 6.59 lakh cash, 3 mobile phones, six SIM cards and three SUVs were seized from them.

The computers and the hard discs from the office of the alleged cheaters were also seized.

As per the instructions of the Superintendent of Police Mr. Abishek Dixit, the DCB has registered a case under sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 506 (1) of IPC.

The arrested persons were produced before the Judicial Magistrate I, Mr. V. Sundararajan and were remanded for 15 days judicial custody.

Later, Ms. Meenakshi was lodged at the Women Sub Jail at Krishnagiri and two others were lodged at the Salem Central Prison.