Senior journalist Sudhangan passes away in Chennai following illness

Senior journalist Sudhangan alias Rangarajan (63) died following brief illness at a private hospital here on Saturday. He is survived by his son Akash. Sudhangan’s wife Shanthi died in 2006. 
Rangarajan
Rangarajan

CHENNAI: Senior journalist Sudhangan alias Rangarajan (63) died following brief illness at a private hospital here on Saturday. He is survived by his son Akash. Sudhangan’s wife Shanthi died in 2006. 
Hailing from Tirunelveli district, Sudhangan started his career as a journalist in 1978 in the magazine Thisaigal, which was edited by writer Maalan.

Later, he joined Kumudam where he changed his name as Sudhangan. In 1982, he joined Junior Vikatan, published from Ananda Vikatan group, as correspondent and worked in various capacities there for 10 years. During that  period, he also worked for Junior Post, a tabloid from Vikatan group.  

Sudhangan also had a stint in the Indian Express Group as editor-in-charge of Dinamani. Later, he became the founder editor of Thamizhan Express. From 1996, he started working for television channels and worked as a political analyst for Jaya TV.  

In 1986, The Statesman honoured Sudhangan with an award for rural reporting. Sudhangan has authored around 40 short stories and numerous articles.  His book, Suttachhu Suttachhu, on the dispute between former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and actor MR Radha, appeared for 52 weeks in Dinamani Kathir. Sudhangan also acted in a few films and television serials.

When the Central government declared that bonded labour had been eliminated across the country, Sudhangan exposed that it was still prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. He was also instrumental in freeing bonded labourers from Tamil Nadu.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, DMK president MK Stalin, MDMK general secretary Vaiko and AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran were among those who condoled the death of Sudhangan.
 In his condolence message, DMK spokesperson KS Radhakrishnan recalled that he and Sudhangan had met LTTE chief V Prabhakaran in 1980s. He also said Sudhangan was the one who broke the story of Vaiko secretly visiting Lanka to meet Prabhakaran in 1989, while he was still in the DMK. 

Bonded labour expose
When the Central government declared that bonded labour had been eliminated across the country, Sudhangan exposed that it was still prevalent in Andhra Pradesh

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