Goondas Act Slapped on 3 PDS Rice Smugglers
COIMBATORE: Three persons who were arrested for smuggling 10 tonnes of rice meant for public distribution system recently, were detained under the Goondas Act on Monday.
The trio was nabbed on July 3, after the food cell wing received information that ration rice meant for distribution at Rathinapuri, Nallampalayam, Ganapathy, Maniyakkaranpalayam, Vadamadurai and Narasimhanaickenpalayam was being smuggled to Kerala. The food cell wing Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) K Radhakrishnan had formed a special team to nab the smugglers.
The team then conducted a vehicle check on Palakkad Road at Kanchikonampalayam junction on July 3 and found ration rice being smuggled in a lorry and mini-lorry, and arrested three persons. The trio attempted to smuggle 10 tonnes of ration rice from Coimbatore to Kerala.
During interrogation, police found that the leader of the smuggling gang, Anwar Basha (39) from Lakshmi Nagar in Nallampalayam had been involved in smuggling ration rice to Kerala for the past several years and many cases were pending against him.
The second accused Velkani (38) from Melanupanadi in Madurai, who is now residing at Nallampalayam was involved in ration rice smuggling from 2008. The third accused Manikandan (30) from KK Pudur, Saibaba Colony was with Anwar Basha for the past two years.
Based on a report from the food cell inspector in Pollachi, City Police commissioner A K Viswanathan ordered their detention under the Goondas Act. The order was served to them at Coimbatore Central Prison.
Trio Assaults Woman
The district police arrested three persons for allegedly assaulting a woman at Alandurai. The woman J Kalpana Chithra (30) from Madampatty in Perur was returning home on July 6 after visiting her brother when R Nagaraj of Alandurai, his wife and two other relatives picked up a quarrel with her. Nagaraj’s wife alleged that she was having an extramarital affair with her husband and they assaulted her with wooden logs.
Lifer for Murder
A city court on Tuesday convicted a coconut plucker of murdering his co-worker and sentenced him to undergo life imprisonment. The accused P Muthusamy (50) from Masaniyammal Kovil Veethi in Thathur was convicted of murdering his co-worker R Velumayil (50) from Pallapalayam near Udumalai in Tirupur over a dispute in sharing the wage in 2011. He was also slapped a fine of `1,000.
38 Booked forRioting
The city police have booked 38 persons for rioting in the city. Police said, due to previous enmity, K Gowtham (23) from Kamarajapuram in Ganapathy and 22 others went to N Aravinthasamy’s house in Moor Market area and assaulted him with wooden logs and sickle. They also damaged property in his house. Based on a complaint by Aravinthasamy, police registered a case against Gowtham and 22 others and arrested nine of them. Based on a counter complaint by F Parthiban (25)t, police booked N Dheenadyalan and 15 others.