Engineer death: Former Tamil Nadu agriculture minister arrested

CHENNAI: Former Tamil Nadu agriculture minister SS Krishnamurthy was on Sunday sent to 15 days judicial custody by a local court.
The sleuths of the Crime Branch Criminal - Investigation Department (CB-CID) arrested SS Krishnamurthy and chief engineer of agriculture engineering department M Senthil Kumar from their houses early on Sunday in connection with the suicide of senior engineer S Muthukumarasamy.
There had been rumours about the arrest since Saturday evening. However, none of the CB-CID officers had confirmed it.
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Speaking to TOI, a senior police officer in the CB-CID on Sunday confirmed their arrest. He said, “We were waiting for the crucial evidence which linked the suicide with the former agriculture minister.” However, he refused to divulge details about the evidence.
Krishnamurthy and Senthil Kumar were being taken to Tirunelveli by road. They would be produced in a court there and remanded in judicial custody.
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CB-CID sources said Muthukumarasamy had written about his agony in his diary before committing suicide by jumping in front of a moving train at Thatchanallur on February 20. Besides this, the call records of Muthukumarasamy also helped the investigation officers to narrow down on the former minister and his personal assistant.
“It was a complicated and challenging case for us, as the former minister didn’t talk to the deceased government official through his mobile. There were calls made from the former minister’s personal assistants G Pandiyan and Poovaiah. It is our duty to render justice by apprehending the accused behind the official’s suicide, which turned sensational,” a CB-CID officer said.
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In the wake of the controversy surrounding the suicide, AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa removed him from the post of party’s Tiruvannamalai south district secretary on March 5. He was dropped from the state cabinet on March 7.