Chennai engineer's suicide case to be probed by CB-CID

CHENNAI: A day after the sacking of Agriculture minister Agri Krishnamurthy from the cabinet, Tamil Nadu DGP Ashok Kumar transferred the investigation into the alleged suicide of an agricultural department executive engineer from the railway police to the crime branch of the state’s criminal investigation department. The CID has taken over the investigations with immediate effect, sources said.
The order for the CB-CID inquiry has come at a time when some opposition parties are reportedly planning to file a petition in the high court seeking a CBI inquiry into the death of the engineer S Muthukumarasamy who reportedly jumped in front of a train in Tirunelveli on Feburary 20 unable to bear pressure from the minister's office over appointment of departmental drivers. The CB-CID probe is unlikely to satisfy the Opposition as the CID is seen to be under control of the AIADMK government.
"The transfer of the case is an eyewash. It's an attempt to avoid CBI inquiry. The CB-CID can't investigate independently since it is under the control of state government," PMK founder Ramadoss told TOI over the phone. He demanded Krishnamurthy's arrest. Both PMK and CPM have demanded registration of a case against Krishnamurthy followed by legal action.
"Though the government's decision to sack him from the cabinet is an important development, it is not enough," said Ramadoss. "A case should be filed against Krishnamurthy for instigating the suicide of an honest official. The action against Krishnamurthy should be a lesson for all other corrupt' ministers," he added.
CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan said CBI inquiry is better than CB-CID since the case is related to a ruling party leader. "The government has acted only after public pressure mounted. This case should be handled seriously since it is only a tip of an ice berg. Corruption is deep rooted in all departments. The charges of corruption are there not only for postings, also for transfer and promotions," Ramakrishnan added. Another left party CPI also urged for a CBI investigation. "The case is enveloped in a fog of mystery. Though the government has taken a few steps in the right direction, it should hand over the case to CBI for for a proper investigation and winning people's confidence," CPI state secretary R Mutharasan told TOI.
In a statement, DMK chief M Karunanidhi alleged that the state government has removed the minister from the cabinet since it realized the implications of what would happen otherwise. "The action of government itself shows that who is behind the suicide of the government engineer," Karunanidhi said. DMK seniors point to the murder case of KN Nehru's brother Ramajayam. "The murder case was transferred to CBCID in June 2012. But there is no progress so far in the investigations. In a few other political cases also, no headway has been made," a former DMK minister said.
But the ruling party leaders said that the government has taken the right decision. "Amma has given clear instructions to the ministers that she will take stringent action if she received any specific charges of corruption," an AIADMK leader said.
Muthukumarasamy's colleagues said he was an honest officer and had refused to appoint drivers recommended by the minister's aides. Instead, he reportedly appointed seven drivers on the basis of seniority in the list with the employment exchange. Muthukumarasamy had also refused to act on the instructions of the minister's aides when they wanted to collect ‘bribes' from the recruited drivers.
Sources in the police probe team said the engineer had made several visits to the minister's office a few days before his suicide. They said call records of Muthukumarasamy showed that the personal secretaries of Krishnamurthy had made several calls to him before his death.
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa sacked Krishnamurthy from the post of Thiruvannamalai south district secretary on Thursday and chief minister O Panneerselvam removed him from the cabinet on Saturday.