Tamil Nadu minister sacked for ‘driving’ official to suicide

Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister S S Krishnamoorthy was dropped from the cabinet on Saturday for his alleged role in the suicide of S Muthukumarasamy, an executive engineer with the Agriculture Department, who had jumped in front of a train near Tirunelveli on February 20.

Also known as Agri ‘Krishnamoorthy’, he was removed from the post of AIADMK Tiruvannamalai south secretary two days ago after the Opposition and the government employees mounted attacks on the state government and staged several protests demanding probe into Muthukumarasamy’s death.

It has been alleged that the official was facing suspension after he refused to obey certain orders from the minister’s office.

Muthukumarasamy, who was described by colleagues as an honest officer, had three months to retire from the service. A senior AIADMK leader said Krishnamoorthy was sacked from the party post and the cabinet after evidence against him “surfaced”. Meanwhile, the opposition parties have also sought Krishnamoorthy’s arrest and a CBI probe.

A senior police official said call records, which reportedly show that the personal assistants of the AIADMK leader had made several calls to Muthukumarasamy’s number days before his suicide, were being probed.

He added that the police were also probing the details of a particular appointment, in which Muthukumarasamy had confirmed the posting of a driver as per the government approval but the minister’s office had demanded a “bribe”.

“It was one among the seven appointments he made following all procedures. Appointments seems to have followed all formalities and followed the seniority list of candidates released by the employment exchange.

We have received complaints that there was a huge pressure from the ministry to pay the bribe amount for these appointments… We are also tracing the withdrawal of his PF fund and its purpose in connection with the case,” the official said.

Source:: Indian Express