Two men were arrested for snatching a mobile phone from a food delivery worker in Arumbakkam on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) and attacking people who tried to catch them by hurling stones.

The police identified the accused as Karthikeyan, 19, of Keezh Nedu Vangarai and Deepak, 20, of Garden Street, Arumbakkam. According to the police, Ashoth, 30, a food delivery executive from Saligramam, was standing outside his office on Poonamallee High Road in Arumbakkam on Tuesday when the duo allegedly approached him and snatched his mobile phone.

When Ashoth raised an alarm, passersby tried to apprehend the duo. The suspects picked up stones lying nearby and hurled them at the people before fleeing the spot. Based on Ashoth’s complaint, the Crime Wing of K-8 Arumbakkam police registered a case and launched an investigation. A team led by the Crime Wing inspector traced and arrested the two suspects and recovered the mobile phone.

The accused were produced before a court on Wednesday (October 7) and remanded in judicial custody.

The Tamil Nadu government has proposed to establish an integrated memorial complex for five icons — Queen Velu Nachiyar, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, B.R. Ambedkar, K. Kamaraj, and Anjalai Ammal — along with a library on a portion of the University Union Grounds in Chetpet belonging to the University of Madras (UoM). The five personalities are also the “ideological leaders” of the ruling TVK.

A cross-section of UoM faculty, staff, physical education teachers of affiliated colleges and sports enthusiasts has objected to the proposal. The University Union Grounds on Spur Tank Road is widely used not only by sportspersons of the university and its affiliated colleges but also different educational institutions to host their sports meets and for training.

According to sources, the Chennai Collector, in a letter dated September 17, addressed to the University authorities, sought its consent for establishing the integrated memorial complex and library on a portion of the grounds. Sources said officials from the Egmore Tahsildar’s office had visited the grounds recently and had taken measurements of the plot of land.

The Collector, in the letter, said Minister Rajmohan had, during the recent Budget session of the Assembly, announced the government’s proposal to set up the memorial for the leaders at an investment of ₹5 crore.

Consequent to this announcement, the portion of the university grounds was identified for constructing the memorial. Incidentally, Chennai already hosts expansive memorials to Ambedkar on Greenways Road, Periyar at Vepery, and Kamaraj on Sardar Patel Road.

Sources at the university informed The Hindu that a plot of land on the northeastern edge of the ground, which housed a tennis court till about three decades ago and was used for other sports activities subsequently, was the proposed spot. Over three decades ago, the parcel housed a tennis court which was damaged due to water stagnation. The court was removed and cricket nets were put up for students to practice. That, too, was damaged following which, the parcel of land was cleaned up and used for handball practice. The actual dimensions of the piece of land wasn’t immediately available.

“Our apprehension is that once the complex is constructed, the pathway for access to the memorial will have to be laid through the ground, thereby encroaching upon the space used by athletes and sportspersons,” a Physical Education Director of an affiliated college said. A section of Physical Education Directors met on Tuesday to discuss the issue and voiced their disapproval of the government’s proposal. They felt the memorial could be established elsewhere on government land in Chennai, instead of taking up the space belonging to the university.

The teaching staff at the university said the focus should be on developing facilities at the grounds rather than constructing memorials. Besides, they cautioned that the university should not take any decision on handing over the plot to the government without a wider discussion, not only within the Syndicate and Senate of the university, but also with other stakeholders.

In the past, the historic venue has hosted the Buchi Babu Memorial Cricket Tournament, the A.L. Mudaliar Athletics meet, and even international matches featuring the women’s cricket team. Even now, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association conducts its lower-division league matches here.

“The Union Ground is common to all the affiliated colleges, who host their annual sports meets here. Moreover, zonal meets and inter-university tournaments are conducted here. Football teams of several colleges train here. Everything is free of cost,” said a PED of a leading college. “We are also hearing that around 10-15 trees will be cut and the vultures that come here regularly will lose their habitat,” he added.

Troy Hamilton Douglas talks to coaches from Tamil Nadu as if he has known them for years. At a coaching clinic in Chennai, the 63-year-old listens intently to a young coach explaining how he trained his athletes, including one returning from injury.

Friendly and hands-on, Douglas is the head coach of athletics at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS), Vidhyanagar, Ballari, Karnataka. He is in the city for a two-day coaching clinic organised jointly by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and IIS.

Douglas believes Indian athletics can better its performance at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya after a record 29-medal haul at the Hangzhou Games in 2023. The tally of six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze was India’s best-ever athletics performance at the Asian Games since 1951.

“If we can equal or get two or three medals more, I will be very happy. In fact, I will say we can win 32 medals. I am saying this after observing Indian athletics for more than a year and watching the Indian Series this season,” Douglas told The Hindu on Friday.

Asked about IIS athletes with medal potential, Douglas, whose contract with IIS runs until 2028, said: “We have too many [IIS] athletes — 23 in all. I will say of the lot, Rashdeep Kaur (women’s 400m and 4x400m relay) and Prachi Choudhary (women’s 400m and 4x400m relay) have a bright chance. I say that because they are properly prepared and have had a fantastic training camp with the national team.”

Douglas said he had been in close contact with Indian coach Jerry Lee Holness, who is in charge of the women’s 400m and 400m hurdles. He added that IIS jumps coach Yoandri Betanzos believed triple jumpers Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu could “do some fantastic things at the Asian Games”.

Douglas, a three-time Olympian for Bermuda who competed in the 200m and 400m, said he plans to retire from coaching after 2028.

“I’m going to go back and spend time with my three grandkids and be a full-time grandfather.”

Nearly a month after a woman was murdered in Chennai and her dismembered body parts were found inside an abandoned trolley bag on board the Tamil Nadu Express at Agra Cantonment, the Guduvanchery police have arrested a couple from Manipur in the case.

The arrested — Manik Uddin Laskar and Bhagabati Majhi — are being brought to Chennai after obtaining a prisoner of transit warrant from the judicial magistrate of Jirbham district in the northeastern State. A senior officer of the Tambaram Police Commissionerate said the team was expected to reach Chennai on Sunday night. “Only after the suspects are brought to the city and interrogated the entire the murder plot could be found,” the officer said.

The police had arrested the couple on Saturday in connection with the murder of a 38-year-old woman in Guduvanchery, whose decomposed and dismembered body parts were found stuffed inside a trolley bag aboard the Chennai-New Delhi Tamil Nadu Express at Agra earlier this month. While Laskar hails from Dakshin Krishnapur, Sonabarighat, in Assam’s Cachar district his wife Bhagabati Majhi is from Odisha.

The murder came to light on August 5, when the body was found in the rear general compartment of the Tamil Nadu Express in Agra. The Agra Railway Police launched an investigation.

After being informed, the Government Railway Police at the Chennai Central railway station and the Railway Protection Force examined CCTV footage from Platform 4 and spotted a man and a woman carrying a suspicious trolley bag and boarding the train. Their movements led investigators to Guduvanchery, where they identified a rented house on Masuthi Street in which the couple had allegedly been staying with another woman. The deceased was later identified as Hayathun Nisha, 38, wife of Jahhur Khan and a native of Jagatsinghpur in Odisha. She stayed in Guduvanchery and worked at a private firm.

The police found Laskar and Bhagabati had gone missing. During the investigation, the police also recovered body parts from a cooking vessel on the premises. Tambaram City Police Commissioner Prem Anand Sinha formed a special team to trace the suspects. A senior police officer said the team travelled to a remote and difficult-to-access area of Manipur in search of Laskar. The team stayed in the area for more than a week and tracked his movements before locating him. “The area was remote, we could not move around much during the day, and it was also raining there. The team camped for more than a week and eventually traced the accused,” the officer said.

The police said the motive for the murder would be established only after the couple was brought to Tambaram and questioned.

Filmmakers have always used certain symbols, motifs, and signifiers to represent ideas, concepts, and places. Over the many years, popular city landmarks, including the hotel Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai and the Cubbon Park in Bengaluru, have been used as establishing shots to depict the city in which a film is set. For Chennai, it has always been a toss-up between Marina/Elliot’s Beach, Central Station, Anna Flyover, Spencer Plaza, and LIC Building.

While one could argue that the LIC Building established the “big city” vibe and that Spencer Plaza represented Chennai’s “modern and capitalist” aspects, the beach has always been used to represent love and life.

Remember the song, Enna Paarvai, Undhan Paarvai, from Kadhalikka Neramillai, a popular 60s film that many, swear to be the unmatched “evergreen romantic” comedy. The song showcases a young couple — Muthuraman and Kanchana — shaking a leg to a melodious song at the beach, unrecognisable with manicured lawns and the absence of cars. Similarly, in Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayudhey, staying true to the perception of the beach as a sanctuary for those in love, the lead-in to the song, Snehithane, shows the hero waiting for the heroine at the beach.

The iconic Ilaiyaraaja song Idhu Oru Pon Malai Pozhudhu from the film Nizhalgal showcases the beach as a place where college students go to smoke weed after bunking classes and build grandiose dreams about their future. 

Filmmaker Venkat Prabhu’s debut film, Chennai 600028, captured another aspect of the beach — its popularity as a space for playing sports, until the police began imposing restrictions. While the Gen Z crowd may not be aware, the black tar road on the beach used to be where hundreds of tennis ball cricket matches took place in the evenings, while the fiercely contested football and volleyball games happened on the beach sands. The final “match” with the school kids at the beach reflected its popularity as a space for playing sports, until the police began imposing restrictions.

Filmmaker Vetrimaaran’s Vada Chennai portrayed the lives of those who live near the coast and depend on the Kasimedu Fishing Harbour for their livelihood. While the film itself is about Chennai’s underworld, it focuses on the trials and tribulations of those living near the beach through various points in recent history. Not just the beach, but its people, their politics and economic conditions were the focus of the critically-acclaimed film.

In actor Sivakarthikeyan’s Marina, the beach becomes a place of refuge for those running away from home.

In a way, the Marina, the Elliots Beach, and the sandy beaches along the East Coast Road evoke different perceptions. While the Marina has maintained its position as the city’s major landmark for tourists, the Elliots’ Beach and those further down the East Coast Road have slowly transformed themselves to attract the hip and fashionable youngsters of Chennai.

With the city growing at a rapid pace, there may be more “landmarks” or cultural markers that the filmmakers will be interested in, but one thing is for sure, the beaches in Chennai will continue to fascinate the storytellers for many years to come.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov has good memories of Chennai. He was at the forefront of Uzbekistan’s spectacular run in the chess Olympiad in nearby Mamallapuram in 2022, with his defeat of D. Gukesh on the top board ensuring the gold for his team.

Abdusattorov is back in the city for the Chennai Grand Masters tournament and is more than happy to return. The 21-year-old Uzbek, who is part of a group of rising stars from the Central Asian republic, said he was looking forward to the match against the World champion but wasn’t focussing only on it.

“This tournament is very short. In some rounds, anything can happen, because it’s a very young field,” the former World Rapid champion said in an interaction.

Abdusattorov has slipped under the radar in recent times with his compatriot Javokhir Sindarov stealing the spotlight with a triumph in last year’s World Cup in Goa before dominating the field in the Candidates to set up a World championship match against Gukesh.

He said he would help Sindarov in his preparation for the title clash. “I had joined his training camp for a week before the Candidates. For the upcoming World championship match, for sure, I will be part of his team. I will be training with him. From my perspective, he’s my friend, he’s close to me, and I will do my best to help him,” Abdusattorov said.

It is not common for chess players to have friendships, especially with rivals, but the young Uzbek superstars seem to be different.

The Abdusattorov-Sindarov friendship could be crucial as Uzbekistan aims to win the Olympiad gold to be held back home in Samarkand.

With outstanding payments of around ₹2,000 crore for completed works yet to be cleared, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has tightened its belt in an attempt to cut down expenditure and increase revenue by intensifying property tax collection.

Deputy Mayor M. Magesh Kumaar said the ₹2,000 crore pending amount was for completed project works. Of this, about ₹450 crore was owed to Urbaser Sumeet, one of the private firms outsourced to handle solid waste management, he said. He urged GCC Commissioner G.S. Sameeran to request Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay to consider releasing allocations under special funds to ease the pressure.

Standing Committee (Taxation and Finance) Chairperson Sarbajaya Das said that to clear the dues, the GCC would assess under-assessed commercial and other large properties, including those measuring over 2,000 sq.ft and 3,000 sq.ft, using GIS-based data to improve tax collection. But, many large-scale new projects are on hold, she added.

According to a senior official, the GCC has doubled its daily property tax collection target from ₹5 crore to ₹10 crore to improve its own-source revenue. Against the current half-year demand of about ₹980 crore, roughly ₹500 crore has been collected as of July 1, 2026. Additional staff, extended collection hours and more point-of-sale devices have been deployed for door-to-door collection of arrears, he added.

“The current financial pressure is temporary. The GCC expects its financial position to improve by September, when further development projects could be considered,” the official said.

Salary of workers priority

“GCC’s priority now is to ensure no worker, including those in conservancy, sanitation, and NULM, loses a month’s salary. We have kept conservancy workers’ wages aside, so capital projects will proceed slowly,” the official told The Hindu.

The GCC decided to slow down spending on construction of new projects and make payments to contractors in stages with the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS). Contractors can obtain early advances through the Receivables Exchange of India Limited, the official stated.

The GCC has so far collected around ₹500 crore against its half-year property tax demand of about ₹980 crore.

“The GCC receives ₹80-82 crore every month through State Finance Commission devolution. Around ₹360 crore towards three quarters of stamp duty and surcharge is yet to be released by the State. We have requested the State government to release these dues. Beyond this, funds cannot be expected from the State,” he said.

The Chennai police apprehended a murder suspect after opening fire at him, and arrested seven others who allegedly trespassed into a house and attacked its occupants, resulting in the death of a 24-year-old youth. Two others, including the deceased youth’s father and brother, were stabbed.

The police said a 48-year-old woman, Selvi, residing on Union Road, Chinna Nolambur, Chennai, lodged a complaint stating that on Friday (June 26, 2026) night, her sons, Sharath (27) and Sanjay (24), were filling water from a tanker lorry near their house when they got into an argument with Udhaya, a resident of the same locality. During the altercation, Sharath and Sanjay allegedly assaulted Udhaya before returning home.

A short while later, Udhaya allegedly returned with his brothers, Rakesh and Karthik, along with several friends. The group allegedly trespassed into the family’s house and attacked Sharath and Sanjay with knives. When their father, Murugadas, attempted to intervene, he was also allegedly stabbed before the assailants fled the scene.

All three injured were rushed to Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Hospital. However, Sanjay died on the way to the hospital, while Sharath and Murugadas are undergoing treatment.

Based on Selvi’s complaint, the Nolambur police registered a case under sections relating to murder and attempt to murder and launched an investigation.

Special teams formed

Following instructions from the Greater Chennai Police Commissioner, A. Amalraj, three special teams headed by the Inspector of the Nolambur police station were formed to trace and arrest the accused.

During the operation, the police attempted to apprehend the prime accused, Rupesh (23) of Perumal Koil Street, Maduravoyal. The police said Rupesh allegedly attacked the officers and tried to escape. Acting in self-defence, the police said they shot him in the knee before taking him into custody.

The police also arrested seven other accused: Naveenkumar (24) of Bethel Nagar, Injambakkam; Udhayaraj (21) of Perumal Koil Street, Maduravoyal; Surya (20) of MMDA Colony, Maduravoyal; Karthik Raja (28) of Perumal Koil Street; Rakesh Raja (26) of Perumal Koil Street, Maduravoyal; Meshak (22) of Perumal Koil Street, Maduravoyal; and Suryaprakash (27) of Perumal Koil Street, Maduravoyal.

In all, eight persons have been arrested in connection with the case. Further investigation is under way, the police said, adding that all the accused were arrested within a few hours of the murder.