A fine scam
A man from Chennai who came to Puducherry to get away from the hectic life landed up in the police net for a traffic violation. The cop asked him to pay Rs 500 and since the man said he had no money on him, the cop told him to transfer money on GPay. Assuming that it was an official number, the man transferred the money and left. A few weeks later, the man found out that it was not an official police number but belonged to a relative of the cop. He reported the matter to police officials in Puducherry. An initial investigation proved that the account indeed belonged to a close relative of the traffic police. A department-level investigation has been initiated in the case. There are allegations that other officers also similarly collect fines in Puducherry.
Muted response
The recent ED search conducted at minister K Ponmudy’s residence unearthed Rs 81.7 lakh in cash, British pound sterling worth Rs 13 lakh and fixed deposits worth Rs 41.9 crore. However, supporters were surprised when the party chose to remain tight-lipped about the issue, as everyone was expecting a resounding response from the DMK in defence of the minister. Even the usually vocal DMK leaders and Ponmudy himself remained tight-lipped in the face of indirect charges levied by the ED.
Seasoned player
A police officer had got his son married off to a local politician in the state last year. Only recently this scribe learnt that the inspector had set up a dedicated team to collect wedding presents (aka bribes). People who were giving bribes to the officer were made to wait until the wedding and the ‘presents’ were marked to his son. Among the bribes (sorry, presents) received were gold statues, cheques for several thousands of lakhs of rupees in some cases. It was a master-class in wedding by a veteran bribe receiver.
Slip of the tongue … or not
Tiruppur Exporters Association recently held a felicitation meet in the city for CP Radhakrishnan on his appointment as the governor of Jharkhand. The event saw the participation of many dignitaries including BJP state president K Annamalai, BJP MLA Nainar Nagendran, among others. Addressing the gathering, Radhakrishnan said, “Nainar Nagendran won his assembly seat with a huge vote margin. That is the reason why Annamalai has not made him a governor yet. He needs such successful candidates for the future.” This remark evoked sharp reactions from the gathering. Meanwhile, Annamalai, visibly upset over the comment, raised his hands towards Radhakrishnan, gesturing his displeasure over the comment. Radhakrishnan smiled in response, but it did not convince the young leader.
My leader
The bitter rivalry between AIADMK Dindigul West District Secretary Dindigul Sreenivasan and party’s Dindigul East District Secretary Natham Viswanathan may be the region’s worst-kept secret. That being the case, the audience of Thursday’s AIADMK protest meeting was dumbfounded to witness both leaders on the same dais. The uncomfortable camaraderie was not without any effect on Sreenivasan’s poise, as he went on to claim, “MK Stalin will become the CM again and AIADMK will win all 234 seats.” After all the raised eyebrows caught Sreenivasan’s attention, he immediately apologised for his faux pas, and said, “EPS will become the CM of Tamil Nadu.”
Truth or fake?
A high rank police officer in Salem district police posted a WhatsApp status a week back that a female police officer of the Salem City Police has been trying to become the SP for 10 months and a bribery contest is on for the post. After some time, he deleted that status message, not before it caught the eyes of many. When reporters asked him, he said that a forwarded message became his WhatsApp status by mistake.
(Contributed by B Bagalavan Perier, S Kumaresan, Sahaya Novinston Lobo, Saravanan MP, Jeyalakshmi Ramanujam & P Srinivasan; Compiled by Affan Abdul Kadar)