Auto driver held for harassment

CHENNAI: A ‘share auto’ driver, who allegedly used obscene language against a student passenger, causing her to jump from the vehicle in fright, was arrested at Pattabiram on Friday.Around 7 pm, R Sumitra (name changed) was returning to her house in Chathiram after attending computer classes at a private coaching centre in Thiruninravur. A plus one student, she went to the computer classes from her school at Avadi, Inspector Sathyan said.After a woman passenger got down at Nemmilichery, Sumitra was left alone in the vehicle. “The girl developed a fright when the auto driver Jayakumar, who was inebriated, started mouthing obscene words,” the inspector said. She leapt out of the vehicle in panic and sustained minor injuries on her hands.Acting on the basis of a complaint from the student’s father Ravi, a welder, at the Pattabiram police station, a special team traced the owner of the share auto and through him the driver.Jayakumar was arrested and booked under various sections including Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Women Harassment (Prevention) Act. He was produced before the Tiruvallur court, which remanded him to judicial custody.Collector Raids Kanchi Kerosene OutletsIn a surprise move that caught black marketeers off guard, District Collector Sivashanmuga Raja, today, conducted  raids simultaneously at all 15 wholesale and 36 retail outlets in the district selling blue kerosene. A total of 1461 litres of unaccounted blue kerosene was confiscated which had been evidently stocked to be sold at a premium in the black market. Giving details about the raids, Sivashanmuga Raja, who was himself conducting raids at a few places including Parthiban Agencies on Gandhi Road in Kancheepuram division, told Express, “ Those offenders repeating the crime would be booked under Goondas Act.”Terming the raid as a ‘big seizure’, the Collector said that the law will take its own course against the offenders booked in today’s raid. Maximum amount of seizures came from Kancheepuram division (1100 litres), followed by Madurantakam (275 litres) and Chengalpattu (86 litres).