Tamil Nadu engineer S Muthukumarasamy
The family of an engineer who was working with the Tamil Nadu government till he killed himself in February has denied that it is being pressured by the ruling AIADMK to drop the police case.
S Muthukumarasamy, an engineer with the Agriculture Department, killed himself by leaping in front of a train. He was 58 and was well-respected for his probity. His son, Sethuram Vinod, told NDTV that though the family has left its hometown or Tirunelveli to relocate to Chennai, the move is not the result of threats from political leaders. However, he said his father "may have been under pressure to make appointments (hire candidates)" and said that in the days before he died, he received a flurry of calls from his boss, the Chief Engineer named Senthil. "The Chief Engineer was calling him a lot, we have shared this with the police," said the engineer's son to NDTV.
SS Krishnamoorthy was sacked as Agriculture Minister earlier this month after the opposition alleged that his office had made threatening phone calls to the engineer days before his suicide reportedly to demand that he hire candidates shortlisted by them, rather than on merit.
The suicide is being investigated by the Criminal Investigations Department of the state police. The opposition, which wants Mr Muthukumarasamy's death to be probed by the CBI, says that the calls also reveal that he had clashed with the minister's office which allegedly was demanding bribes in return for jobs within the Agriculture Department.