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Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82VOL. XXXVI NO. 7 � 8 PAGES � Rs. 4.00 CHENNAI ��WEDNESDAY 13.12.2017 (EVENING) � OTHER STATIONS THURSDAY 14.12.2017 (MORNING)

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'SOUTH CINEMAIS TOP-CLASS'

8Rajini thanksall for b'day

wishesNT Bureau

Chennai, Dec 13:A c t o r R a j i n i k a n t h t o d a y

thanked all his friends from the fields of politics, films and sports for their warm wishes on his 68th birthday.

The actor, who celebrated his birthday yes-t e r d a y , r e -ceived wishes from celebri-ties like Am-i tabh Bach-chan , Shah Rukh Khan, Kamal Haas-a n , S a c h i n T e n d u l k a r

and Tamilnadu Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam among many others.

'My heart fe l t thanks to al l my political friends, film fra-ternity friends, sports world friends and media friends and well wishers for wishing me on my birthday,' Rajinikanth tweeted.

The actor also thanked his 2.0 co-star Akshay and wrote, 'Thank you very much for your warm wishes Akshay.'

The Sivaji star also received a letter from Deputy Chief Minister of Tamilnadu Thiru O Panneerselvam. To that, he tweeted, 'Thank you very much respected Thiru O Pan-neerselvam for your letter wishing me for my birthday'.

NT BureauChennai, Dec 13:

A week after he tendered his resigntaion from the post of vice-president of the Nadi-gar Sangam, actor Ponvan-nan today chose to withdraw the same.

Addressing mediapersons here, Ponvannan, said, ‘I chose to quit my post against Vishal’s decision to contest RK Nagar by-poll. We contested the elec-tion as team and won. The promise we made that time was that we will stay apolitical’.

When everyone in the fi lm in-dustry heaped laurels on us for standing under one roof without any political infl uence commit-ted to serve the cause of our

m e m b e r s , the sudden d e c i s i o n by V i sha l to contest RK Nagar by-election shocked us, he said.

Though individually he has all right to contest elections, it is appalling that an individual, who promised to stay away from politics has decided to take political plunge, he said.

Fearing that whatever deci-sion that we take would be scrutinised and would be seen infl uenced by his political ambi-tions from here. I quit my post, the actor-fi lmmaker said.

My resignation was discussed at the executive committee meeting of the association. They chose to reject it. And Vishal personally called me and clarifi ed his decision. He gave me an explanation’

‘Also it was stressed that the need of the hour is stand united and achieve our vision of constructing building at the sangam premises’.

‘With a mega star night planned by Nadgar Sangam happening in Malaysia this January, I think we have to get all our act together and con-duct such a mammoth event successfully. We resolve to continu8e the good work and achieve what all we promised’.

Washington Sundar makes his ODI debut

� TN all-rounder is seventhyoungest to play for country

Washington Sundar received his maiden ODI cap from coach Ravi Shastri

Mohali, Dec 13:From replacing an injured Kedar Jadhav to being drafted into

the Indian cricket team for the second ODI side in place of Kuldeep Yadav, it has been eventful week for the Tamilnadu youngster Washington Sundar.

Eighteen-year-old Washington Sundar received his maiden ODI cap from coach Ravi Shastri before the start of the match.

This morning, with India looking for batting depth in overcast condition in Mohali versus the Sri Lankan cricket team, the 18-year-old all-rounder was given his maiden ODI cap.

He became the seventh youngest Indian to make his ODI de-but. With this he joined the illustrious list of players like Sachin Tendulkar, who made his debut at the age of 16 years and 238 days, Maninder Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel, Laxmi Rattan Shukla and Chetan Sharma.

Sundar was recently in news for having failed the Yo-Yo test but he said that is what inspired him to work harder. On the eve of the match Sundar felt he is ready both mentally and physically to take on the rigours of the international cricket.

It was during this year’s IPL that the teenager had attracted attention, helping Steven Smith-led Pune Supergiants reach the fi nal. ‘I went back, prepared a lot, trained a lot on aspects, where I needed to. It paid off. I started bowling more and spent extra time on my batting. And fi tness also as you know it has become a very important aspect of this Indian team,’ he said.

India managed 170 for 1 in 29 overs so far. Shikar Dhawan was dismissed for 68, while Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 70. Shreyas Iyer was giving him company on 27. Pathirana took a wicket for the visitors.

Ponvannanwithdraws resignation

� To continue as Nadigar Sangam vice-president� Says Vishal offered explanation

Pali men come with plan: Police� Raj employers in city blamed for being taken in by their State people

NIVEDHIKA KRISHNANChennai, Dec 13:

After his batchmate met with a tragic end in Rajasthan, a city police inspector blamed the lack of awareness among the public here about cases involving other State burglars.

‘People from other States, es-pecially men from Pali district, come to the city in search of work. Our men, predominantly Marwaris, get easily deceived as they are willing to work for low wages. So, the employer happily accepts them without any verifi cation. The workers pretend to remain loyal to him and deliver work for a maximum of one month. In that span of time, they learn everything about the master and business to chalk out a plan,’ he states.

He says, ‘The men from Pali

district in Rajasthan are no-torious and known for their association with the yellow metal. Either their clan would be owning jewellery shops or be pawnbrokers or loot jewel-lers. They will go to any extent and use any means to get their hands on the gold.’

Sources said the city police have struggled with such cases without getting any clues for

over two years. ‘They commit-ted a series of offences giving a tough time to us’, said an offi cer.

‘We have advised Marwaris plenty of times to instal CCTV cameras in their shops for security reasons. But they do not comply with it for various reasons. The Marwaris employ Pali men thinking they belong to the same State, but fail to

understand the ulterior motive of the burglars,’ another offi cial points out.

Stating that the Rajasthan police failed to help the spe-cial team headed by Inspector Periyapandi, he said, ‘It is not true that all the police personnel from other States will extend a helping hand to the special teams. It is a different ball game.’

In this case, the investigation team gathered all the vital clues and reached the State with a solid plan, sources said.

The offi cer says that Munis-hankar is his good friend, too, who is an active person and is ever alert.

He assures, ‘After this inci-dent, the process of migrant verifi cation will be stepped up in the city.’

Dashvanthattacked by

women in courtNT Bureau

Chennai, Dec 13:Child rapist Dashvanth who

was produced in Chengalpet court today was attacked by members of women's asso-ciation. They raised slogans against Dashvanth and gave him blows. He was escorted by police later.

Dashvanth who was brought to Chennai from Mumbai last week, was charged in the Feb-ruary rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Mugali-vakkam.

He during enquiry admitted to the 2 December slaying of his mother Sarala and said he planned to kill his father too.

Police rearrested Dashvanth in Mumbai on Friday after he escaped from custody a day earlier while a city police team was bringing him back to Chennai.

Remove bogusvoters, HC tells EC

NT BureauChennai, Dec 13:

The Madras High Court today ordered the Election Com-mission to prevent voting by bogus voters in the RK Nagar by-election.

The judgment was given on a petition fi led by DMK’s R S Bharathi who requested the removal of 5,117 bogus voters from the constituency.

The petition came up for hearing before the division bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and K Ravichan-drabaabu.

In their verdict the Judges said that the Election Commis-sion should take stringent action against those who have enrolled their names more than once.

The Judges also expressed disappointment over the fact that there are 45,000 bogus voters in the 2.5 lakh voters in the constituency.

‘The inclusion of so many bogus voters is a mockery against democracy. Even a single vote would make a huge difference in an election.The offi cials and politicians who were involved in this act should be punished,’ they said.

The Judges appreciated the DMK’s decision to take up the issue and also said that the Election commission should ensure that the RK Nagar by-poll is conducted in a fair manner.

How special team formed‘The police personnel in special teams are carefully

picked by the higher officials after taking into account various considerations, including language and alert-ness. The teams are sent only after confirmation that the investigation is on the right path and the men in khaki had narrowed down the search for the accused,’ an official said.

Case historyA group of robbers looted Maha-

lakshmi Jewellery shop located at Retteri, in the guise of setting up a cloth store on 16 November. It was reported that around 3.5 kg gold jewels, four kg silver and Rs two lakh in cash were miss-ing from the shop. The thieves drilled a hole from the fi rst fl oor and gained entry to the jewelry shop, emptying all the jewel cases before escaping from the spot.

No help fromRaj police?

Sources said that Rajasthan po-lice failed to help the special team from Tamilnadu. However, top of-fi cials of Rajasthan police depart-ment have denied it and said they provided all possible help.

‘Job was his first love’Periyapandian is supported by wife Banurekha, a primary school

teacher, and has two sons - Ruban fi rst year student in Loyola College and Rahul, a school student. Speaking to the media, Ruban recalled that his father was so attached to his job. ‘He did not even take a family photo with us so far. He loved his job a lot. At the same time, he was so attached to us also and would speak to us over phone daily. We did not receive his call today,’ he said.

A native of Tiruvallur, another Inspector Manishankar resides with his wife, Usha and two sons - Kirthivasan, second year mechanical engineer-ing student and Pramod Arya, a class seven student.

RAJASTHAN ROBBERSMURDER CHENNAI COP

� Special team rushes to Jaipur � CoP warns action against dacoits� Dheeran... style incident while nabbing jewel thieves

NT BureauChennai, Dec 13:

The news of the death of Madura-voyal Law and Order Inspector S Periyapandian in the hands of the notorious burglar group in Pali district in Rajasthan has sent shock waves among his counterparts in the city.

A special team of six personnel including Kolathur Inspector Mu-nishankar, who was injured in the incident, went to Rajasthan in con-

nection with the Kolathur burglary at a jewellery shop in mid-November.

Sources said, two teams were sent to apprehend the burglar gang some ten days back, but one team returned to the city last week along with four accused. The other team stayed back to arrest the remaining accused.

It was reported that burglars group opened fi re at the police team, killing Periyapandian and injuring Munis-hankar this morning, when they sur-rounded the main accused Nathu Ram and his aides in a brick kiln in Pali. Reminding one of the recent Tamil fi lm Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru, villagers helped Nathu Ram and his men in attacking the police party, it is learnt.

An official claims that the group snapped the pistol from the offi cial and shot at him with his gun.

Sources said that a special team headed under the Joint Commission-er, West, Law and Order, Santosh Ku-

mar has fl own down to Rajasthan to bring the body of Periyapandi tonight.

An offi cer said a formal investigation will be conducted to unravel the details of what actually transpired on the fateful morning in the village Rampurkalan, in Jaitaran police limit in Pali district.

A native of Tirunelveli, Periyapandian, aged 48, belonged to the sub-inspector batch of 2000. The offi cer was promot-ed to the rank of inspector in 2014 and assumed charges at the Maduravoyal police station on 10 October this year.

He was a resident of Nehru Street, Vas-antham Nagar in Avadi. He is survived by his wife and two sons. This morning, soon after the incident, Commissioner A K Viswanathan visited Periyapandian’s family and consoled them. He also said strict action would be taken against those involved in the murder.

A banner kept in memory of Periyapandian at Maduravoyal police station.Photo: V M SRINIVASAN

‘KANNEER ANJALI’

Periyapandian Manishankar