CHENNAI: The wife of a 24-year-old Narikurava man petitioned the State Human Rights Commission on Tuesday, alleging that her husband Vijayakanth had been kept under illegal police custody in Thanjavur for three days, where he had allegedly been tortured. 

Chellammal, a resident of Kuruvadipatti in Thanjavur, stated in her petition that Vijayakanth, a mason, went for fishing on February 24 with his brother Dhanush (13), cousin Ayappan (13) and two other relatives — Sarathkumar (8) and Sanjay (10). Two unidentified policemen approached the group, pretending to buy the fish that they had caught, before assaulting Vijayakanth and forcibly taking him to the police quarters behind the university police station, the petition stated. 

Later in the day, Dhanush and Ayappan, who were on their way back home, pushing Vijayakath’s two-wheeler, were also taken to the police quarters where they found Vijayakanth chained. They were then asked to admit to their brother’s crimes, to which they refused,  the petition said. 

Dhanush was pricked with a needle and Ayappan branded with a hot iron rod by the policemen who also cast a casteist slur on the boys, the petition alleged. “One of his relatives had been booked in a murder case.

They were planning to implicate Vijakanth also,” said state coordinator of the Social Awareness Society for Youths (SASY) R Babu. “We will also move the High Court if needed. Though the Criminal Tribes Act was repealed, it has not been erased from the minds of police.”

`2.6-lakh worth fake notes seized, cabbie arrested

Chennai: The Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU) officers arrested a 36-year-old cab driver who was in possession of `2.6 lakh worth fake currency notes in Vadapalani on Wednesday. They said that following a tip-off, the cab driver, identified as Mohan Raj, 36, of Ayanavaram, was nabbed at Alagiri Street in Vadapalani around 3 pm. The sleuths seized 130 currency notes of `2,000 denominations worth `2.6 lakh from the car. Preliminary investigations revealed that Mohanraj had got the notes from an unknown man through a common friend in K K Nagar. Further investigations are on.

Man makes hoax bomb call after tiff with wife, held

Chenna: The Chennai City police arrested a 37-year-old man for making a hoax bomb call to the police control room on Tuesday. Police said that A Saravanan (37) of Teynampet, was under the influence of alcohol and made the call to get his wife into trouble after she quarrelled with him. “At around 5.30 pm on Tuesday, the control room received a call where a man claimed that he overheard his wife Munni telling someone on the phone that there would be a bomb blast at the Central Railway station on Wednesday,” said a police officer. He was arrested and remanded under judicial custody.