Here are the big stories from Tamil Nadu today

Welcome to the Tamil Nadu Today newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories to follow today. Curated and written by Lalitha Ranjani.

Six fishermen of Nagapattinam district were allegedly assaulted mid-sea by a group of 12 persons suspected to be from Sri Lanka, when they were fishing east of Arcot Thurai last night. Five of them were injured in the incident.

Police sources said a group of six fishermen who had set sail yesterday afternoon. They were fishing about 22 nautical miles east of Arcot Thurai when they were apparently intercepted by three fibre boats with about 12 persons on board.

The Nagapattinam fishermen were allegedly assaulted by the other group reportedly with iron pipes and wooden logs. A GPS gadget, a battery and about 150 kg of fish were stolen from the boat. Vedaranyam Marine police registered a dacoity case.

A 35-year-old man from Haryana, identified as Asif Jamal and suspected to be the mastermind behind robberies at four ATMs in Tiruvannamalai on February 12, has been arrested by a Tamil Nadu special investigation team at his home town, Nuh.

As part of the investigation, 10 suspects are being interrogated. Among the detained suspects involved in the case, two persons are being interrogated at KGF in Kolar, Karnataka; six persons in Gujarat and two persons in the Nuh district of Haryana.

Election officials on Thursday sealed 10 unauthorised election offices of the ruling DMK and four offices of the opposition AIADMK set up in the Erode (East) Assembly constituency, without the obtaining of permission. At Alamarathukadu, when election officials went to seal the AIADMK office, functionaries and cadre entered into an altercation with officials. 

Six special election teams formed to collect postal ballots from 352 registered voters in the Erode (East) Assembly constituency began collecting the ballot papers, by visiting the houses of the electors. Voters above the age of 80, persons with disabilities, those who have COVID-19 have been allowed to cast postal votes.