TIRUNELVELI: Police here are pursuing several leads in the gruesome murder of former Tirunelveli mayor Uma Maheshwari, her husband Muruga Shankar and maid Mariammal. Three special teams have been constituted under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner (Crime branch) Venkidakrishnan. Tirunelveli city police have been pursuing several leads.
One of the deceased, Uma Maheshwari, suspected to be the main target of the murderers, was former mayor and Tirunelveli district (Central) women's wing secretary of the DMK.
Checking CCTV footages of a camera from an eatery near Uma Maheshwari's house, police suspect that there are three murderers. According to police sources, the two first entered the house at around 1:30 pm and another one followed them later. The blood stains found in the bureau further strengthened the statement of city police commissioner, N Baskaran, that the murders might have been committed for gain. Around 30 sovereigns of jewels and around `50,000 is suspected to be missing from the house.
The investigating team also picked up Prabhu, a close relative of Uma Maheshwari for interrogation, as Prabhu reportedly had a heated argument with Uma Maheshwari and her husband over their ancestral property, over which they had a long-drawn dispute.
According to police sources, Prabhu has several cases against him including murder.
STALIN PAYS HOMAGE: DMK president M K Stalin visited Tirunelveli on Wednesday and paid homage to the deceased couple, Uma Maheshwari and Muruga Shankar, whose bodies were kept in their daughter's house after post-mortem.
Later, speaking to the media, the DMK president slammed the state government for being indifferent towards the increasing number of crimes in the state. He also added that the real culprits in this case should be booked and soon punished.
He eulogised Uma Maheshwari as a great cadre of the DMK, and recalled the 'Paventhar Bharathidasan' award she received at the hands of Karunanidhi in recognition of her work at the party's state youth wing conference in 2007.
