A group of 58 girls and women aged between 13 and 25 employed as bonded labourers in an export unit in Namakkal district was rescued last week. They were brought by middlemen from Chattisgarh state to Gem Agro Exports for a salary of Rs5,000 each with boarding and lodging.
However the company owners crammed the group into two small rooms with a single toilet and did not pay them as promised.
Recently one of them, Rajeshwari, 29, escaped to Chattisgarh after bribing a middleman. She then complained to the Chattisgarh collector who informed his counterpart in Namakkal to raid the unit.
The victims were rescued and sent back to Chattisgarh with the help of social workers.
The unit’s owners were arrested for human trafficking and labour abuse. Ironically many of the girls were unhappy at losing the ‘job’.
Five killed in cooking gas cylinder blast
Five people including a four-year-old girl were killed and many injured when a cooking gas cylinder burst at a multi-storied building at Attayampatti in suburban Salem.
The explosion occurred early morning when most of the residents were asleep. The victims included the landlord Devarajan who may have triggered the blast when he lighted the gas stove to boil milk. The building was rented out as six portions with LPG cylinders in individual kitchens.
The impact also damaged adjacent buildings, cars and killed a cow. Devarajan’s four-year-old granddaughter Deepadarshini’s body was thrown outside the house in the explosion.
Police have ordered a probe and issued a safety alert through LPG companies and media reports.
Late minister’s family gets bail in land grab case
Eighteen members of the family of late DMK strongman and former agriculture minister Veerapandi Arumugham surrendered at a court in Salem and got bail in a 2011 land grab case.
The case was filed by Palanisamy who accused Veerapandi’s family of buying land belonging to the Ariyanur co-operative society at a low price. As members of the society, the family put up a fake auction and registered the land.
The family used Veerapandi’s political clout to get a court rule in their favour, but it came for re-trial after J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK came to power in 2011.
Veerapandi Arumugham’s family also has other corruption cases. He died on November 23, 2012.
Priest and wife held for fraud
A temple priest and his wife were arrested for cheating several women of Rs2.8mn through their private finance company in Porur in suburban Chennai.
Ponnikumar and his wife Malini had been running chit funds for eight years but failed to pay back their depositors this year. The depositors filed petitions with the Chennai police who arrested the couple as they were trying to escape.
Private chit funds are a popular saving scheme among housewives as they promise huge interests and collect premiums at doorstep.
Principal accused of sex abuse
The principal of a private school in Erode has been accused of sexually abusing boys. Police took action against Krishnan based on the parents’ complaints. The boys claimed that Krishnan used to touch them indecently and asked them to stay back after school. However police also found that all the boys had poor academic records and Krishnan had not misbehaved with girl students or female staff. The school also vouched for Krishnan’s good behaviour and career record.
Police are also interrogating the boys.