When the crowd turned deadly
On the night of September 27, inside Karur Government Hospital, Pearson Lenekar SR saw chaos spill into the corridors. Survivors cried out, gasping that they had been pushed, trampled and unable to breathe. Nurses struggled to tend to fractured limbs and bloodied faces. Families fought to reach their loved ones; others collapsed outside the mortuary, unwilling to accept what had happened. The next morning, P Thiruselvam found the TVK party office locked, phones switched off. After hours of searching, local organisers admitted they were ordinary men suddenly tasked with managing a massive rally without experience. As TNIE reporters from multiple districts pieced together the sequence of events, including Vijay’s delayed movements, unchecked crowds and poor coordination, through police and eyewitness accounts, one truth became evident: overwhelming enthusiasm and lack of preparedness turned fatal
Custodial death that sparked a reckoning
Vignesh V received a call from a source on June 28 saying a man had died in police custody, later identified as temple guard Ajithkumar of Madapuram. To cross-check, he contacted a senior police officer in Madurai, who confirmed it. TNIE shared the information with local media colleagues — a crucial step, as the police had not informed the family at that point. This triggered a confrontation between the police and the victim’s relatives. The case went on to become a major political flashpoint, raising serious questions about police excesses. Special police teams were later disbanded across the state, and the High Court came down heavily on the police for the brutal assault, even as Ajithkumar’s role in the alleged theft remained unproven. Following extensive coverage by TNIE and others, the investigation was transferred to CBI. In a supplementary chargesheet, the central agency included the names of three more suspects, including a DSP
Explaining Olive Ridley deaths
TNIE stayed ahead of the curve in reporting the spike in Olive Ridley turtle deaths that began late 2024. The coverage by SV Krishna Chaitanya ensured that fisheries department took steps to enforce the rule mandating Turtle Excluder Devices a must for trawlers in India
Suspicious tenders
Allegations of irregularities in tender processes at the Greater Chennai Corporation are not new, but concrete proof has been elusive. In two reports, Praveena S A established suspicious patterns in construction projects. In the first, tenders were floated for a parking shed only after construction was completed and inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. In the second, tenders were issued for bus shelters at locations that already had functional shelters, raising serious questions over necessity and transparency
Off the track
TNIE’s reporters visited nine railway stations, redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, often along with disabled passengers and found accessible India remains a mirage. In a report, dated June 1, we brought to light several issues within these redeveloped stations. Toilets were either inaccessible or locked and Braille signs to help visually-impaired persons were absent across all such stations
Life beyond broken road
Dheepthi OJ’s story on how around 650 residents of Neknamalai hill village in Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur, endure extreme hardship due to the absence of a proper road linking the foothills to the village cut to the heart of the matter. The impact of the story, published on March 31, led the rural development dept to obtain nod from forest dept to lay the road
A decade after Seshachalam murders
Ten years after 20 workers from Tamil Nadu were killed in a brutal encounter by Andhra Pradesh police in Seshachalam over alleged red sanders smuggling, the incident slowly faded from public memory. For the story, published on May 11, Rajalakshmi Sampath met the families of the victims to document how they continue to struggle, and how justice remains out of reach
Data theft
Data of thousands of employers and employees across Tamil Nadu have been stolen twice in the past year from the state labour department portal. Nirupama Viswanathan in her report found that compromised information include details of guest workers. The lost data has since been recovered, according to officials, but could still be misused
Loss of grain
The data on wastage at direct procurement centres and government-run warehouses had long remained out of public view. An RTI filed by B Anbuselvan revealed that Tamil Nadu lost 3.72 lakh metric tonnes of paddy and rice between 2019-20 and 2023-24, causing a minimum estimated loss of Rs 840 crore. The actual loss could be higher, as full details were not disclosed by the TNCSC