Coimbatore,sometimes shortened as Kovai,is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbatore is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu after Chennai in terms of population and the 16th largest urban agglomeration in India as per the census 2011. It is the administrative capital of Coimbatore District and is administered by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation which was established in 1981.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He is popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Artist) and Mutthamizh Arignar for his contributions to Tamil literature. He had the longest intermittent tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly,having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. Before entering politics,he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature,having written stories,plays,novels,and a multiple-volume memoir. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after a series of prolonged,age-related illnesses.
Koose Munusamy Veerappan(Tamil-வீரப்பன்) was an Indian poacher,smuggler,domestic terrorist and bandit who was active for 36 years,and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching of elephants in the scrub lands and forests in the states of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Kerala. He was wanted for killing approximately 184 people,about half of whom were police officers and forest officials. He was also responsible for poaching approximately 500 of the 2000 elephants killed in the peninsular region where he was active and for smuggling ivory worth US$2.6 million and about 65 tons of sandalwood worth approximately US$22 million.
Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK),literally meaning Hindu People's Party,also pronounced as Indu Makkal Katchi (IMK),is a right-wing,Hindu nationalist party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Tamil Nadu Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of Tamil Nadu,India. It is over 150 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India. Tamil Nadu has a police-population ratio of 1:632. The Director General of the Tamil Nadu police is Shankar Jiwal.
The 1998 Coimbatore bombings occurred on Saturday,14 February 1998,in the city of Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu,India. A total of 58 people were killed and over 200 injured in the 12 bomb attacks in 11 places,all within a 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) radius. The explosives used were found to be gelatin sticks activated by timer devices and were concealed in cars,motorcycles,bicycles,sideboxes of two-wheelers,denim and rexine bags,and fruit carts. Several bombs that failed to detonate were defused by bomb disposal squads of the Army,National Security Guards and Tamil Nadu Commando School. The bombings were apparently in retaliation to the 1997 Coimbatore riots during November –December the previous year,when Hindu fundamentalists groups killed 18 Muslims and 2 Hindus and looted several thousands of properties of Muslims following the murder of a traffic policeman named Selvaraj,by a member of the radical Islamist group Al Ummah. The main conspirator was found to be S A Basha,the founder of Al Ummah,an Islamic fundamentalist body. Investigators found out that the blasts were a part of larger conspiracy to target L.K.Advani,the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party on that day at 4 p.m in his election meeting.
Mylswamy Annadurai,popularly known as the Moon Man of India,is an Indian scientist working as vice president for Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology,Chairman,Board of Governors,National Design and Research Forum. He was born on 2 July 1958,in Kothavadi in the Coimbatore district,Tamil Nadu state of India. Prior to taking this assignment he was with Indian Space Research Organisation and served as director of the Indian Space Research Organisation Satellite Centre. During his 36 years of service in the Indian Space Research Organisation,he had some of the major contributions,including two of the major missions of ISRO,namely Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan. Annadurai has been listed among 100 Global thinkers of 2014 and topped the innovators list. His works are mentioned in textbooks of Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education
Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins,predominantly living in Tamil Nadu,though they number significantly in Telangana,Andhra Pradesh,Kerala,Karnataka,in addition to other regions of India,as well as Sri Lanka. They can be broadly divided into two denominations:Iyengars,who are adherents of Sri Vaishnavism,and Iyers,who follow the Srauta and Smarta traditions.
Hindu Munnani is a right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Hindu Munnani was set up by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) The organisation was founded in 1980 by Ramagopalan,a member of RSS and since its formation served as the platform for RSS and its subsidiaries known as the Sangh Parivar.
C. Sylendra Babu is an Indian Police Service Officer who served as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force,Tamil Nadu Police. He retired on June 30,2023 and was succeeded by Shankar Jiwal,IPS.
The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation is the civic body that governs the city of Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the second largest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu after Chennai with an area of 257.04 sq km.
Dr. G. Bakthavathsalam is the chairman and the managing trustee of Dharmaveera K Govindaswamy Naidu Medical Trust,which runs the K.G. Hospital in Coimbatore,India. He was awarded a Padma Shri in 2005. Dr GB,as he is fondly known as,was born on 5 April 1942 at Annur village of Coimbatore district and graduated with a Masters of Science from Madras Medical College. He then received his post graduate training in surgery at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago (USA).
The Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department is a service department of the Government of Tamil Nadu whose function is to fight fires and provide relief measures in times of calamities and disasters in Tamil Nadu.
C. P. Radhakrishnan is an Indian politician who is the 10th and current Governor of Jharkhand since 2023. He is also the Governor of Telangana &Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry since 20 March 2024,after the resignation of Tamilisai Soundararajan. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore twice. He was also the former state president of the BJP for Tamil Nadu.
Dr. C. K. Gandhirajan is an Indian Police Service (IPS) Officer of the 1985 batch belonging to the Tamil Nadu cadre. Hailing from Thiruvallur District,he serves as the Director General of Police,Fire,Rescue and Emergency Services in Tamil Nadu. He obtained a PhD. in criminology from the University of Madras. He is the author of two books,Organized Crime and Inside Prisons.
Hariharan Raja Sharma also known as H. Raja is an Indian politician. He started his political-social life as an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) promoter. He was a MLA representing the Karaikudi constituency in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2006. He was one of the national secretaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2014 to 2020.
Dr. A. K. Viswanathan,IPS, is an Indian Police Service officer of the 1990 batch. He is presently in the rank of Director General of Police and serves as the Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Police Housing Corporation Limited,a wholly owned Company of the Government of Tamil Nadu. TNPHC is engaged in various projects related to police housing and infrastructure. He served as the Commissioner of Police,Greater Chennai,from May 2017 to 1 July 2020.
Dr. K. Vijayakarthikeyan is an Indian author,bureaucrat,civil servant and currently serving as the secretary of Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission. He served as the Collector of Tiruppur District in Tamil Nadu,Commissioner &Special Officer,Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation,Assistant Collector (Trainee) at Erode and Sub Collector at Kovilpatti before his appointment as Director for Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Affairs Coimbatore City.
The 2004 Kalapatti violence refers to the violence against Dalits by dominant-caste villagers in the village of Kalapatti,Tamil Nadu on 16 May 2004. About 100 Dalit houses have been burned down by a mob of 200 villagers and Dalits who attempted to escape were attacked. The attacks lasted for 2 hours and 14 people were seriously injured in the violence including a man's arm reportedly hacked off.
The 1997 Coimbatore riots occurred between 29 November 1997 and 1 December 1997 in Coimbatore triggered by a murder of a police constable allegedly by some Muslim youth over a dispute of detention of Al-Ummah functionaries by the police. The policemen revolted in response to the murder of the constable and in concert with the members of the Hindu Munnani and the Hindu Makkal Katchi,attacked Muslims and Muslim-owned properties. Clashes erupted between both the communities and the police reportedly opened fire targeting the Muslims killing ten. Many Muslim youth were beaten to death or burnt alive. Muslim-owned businesses in different parts of the city were looted and burnt down. At the end of the riots,18 Muslims and 2 Hindus lost their lives.
