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TN: Ex-minister Krishnamoorthy arrested for govt engineer's suicide
Former agriculture minister SS 'Agri' Krishnamoorthy has been arrested by the CB-CID in connection with the alleged suicide of a senior engineering department official S Muthukumarasamy.
Former Tamil Nadu agriculture minister ‘Agri’ SS Krishnamoorthy has been arrested by the state police in connection with the suicide of S Muthukumarasamy, an engineer in the agriculture department.
On February 20, Muthukurmarasamy jumped in front of a train and was killed. The engineer committed suicide allegedly because he was under pressure from the minister while carrying out a recruitment process.
Krishnamoorthy, an AIADMK leader, was summoned for questioning in the case late Saturday night by CB-CID officials and was later arrested. Chief engineer in the agriculture department, Senthil, was earlier arrested in the case.
The minister is facing allegations of putting pressure on Muthukumaraswamy for recruiting candidates recommended by him.
"As part of further investigation, he (Krishnamoorthy) is being taken to Tirunelveli," an official added.
Senthil had pressurised the engineer on phone over appointments of drivers in the department, sources said.
Sethuraman Vinoth, son of the deceased engineer, said his father was clearly under pressure at workplace and that he had received many calls from Senthil. Sethuraman, a software engineer with a reputed company in Chennai, hoped that the investigation would be fair.
Police sources said the phone records too indicated calls from Senthil to Muthukumaraswamy.
Krishnamoorthy was dropped from the council of ministers and stripped of party posts last month after demands for his sacking were made by opposition parties including the PMK, Congress and the DMK.
Opposition parties were not satisfied with the sacking of the minister and wanted criminal case against him, even though the former minister denied the allegations.
DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said only the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could conduct an independent investigation into the case.
The delay in action, the DMK leader feared, could adversely affect the nature of investigation.
