Police confirmed it was suicide after finding traces of poison in R Subramaniam’s stomach. However his wife, son and daughter alleged foul play and demanded a probe.
Subramaniam came under the scanner after the April 7 income tax raids on Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar’s properties in Chennai. Officials found Subramaniam’s name on Vijaybhaskar’s payment list and began monitoring his business contracts, savings, property investments in India and tax havens abroad. They repeatedly interrogated him and he became depressed, said his family.
Vijaybhaskar’s name was also found in sand mining baron Sekar Reddy’s diary. Sekar Reddy is currently in jail for money laundering and bribing ministers for government contracts. Police have widened their probe to cover Vijaybhaskar’s other associate Anbunathan, a businessman from Karur for his overseas investments.
Several political leaders have also demanded a proper investigation.
Ramco Cements chairman dies
P R Ramasubramaneya Raja, the chairman of Ramco Cements, died in his hometown of Rajapalayam in southern Virudhunagar district on May 11.
He was 82 and survived by his wife, son, three daughters and five grandchildren.
Raja inherited two businesses from his father, a textile mill and Ramco Cements at the age of 27. He went on to expand it to cover software, roofing sheets, education and spinning mills. The Ramco group owns around eight colleges in Rajapalayam today.
Raja was a philanthropist.
His business contemporaries like TVS group chairman Venu Srinivasan and India Cements vice chairman N Srinivasan praised Raja’s humility and acute business sense in modernising his factories and providing the best for his employees.
The Ramco groups have never faced labour strikes. Throughout his life, he donated generously for many charities irrespective of religion.
Businesses and shops were closed for a day in Rajapalayam as a mark of respect.
Four killed in apartment fire
Two women and two children of a family died of suffocation when fire broke out at a four-storey apartment complex at Vadapalani in Chennai last week.
The pre-dawn fire reportedly caused by an electrical short circuit started at a fuse box on the basement parking lot and spread upwards. Several bikes parked nearby caught fire and the acrid smoke and flames woke up the residents.
Many jumped from their balconies using saris and bed sheets because the lone stairway was blocked by the fire. Some even dropped their children to the ground floor, while some firemen fainted during the rescue.
Police have called building owner E Vijayakumar for inquiry.
Meanwhile at Royapuram area of Chennai, five fishing boats were burnt in a mysterious fire while docked near a hamlet.
Chitrai festival celebrated
Chitra Pournami or the advent of the first full moon in the first month called Chitrai of the Hindu calendar was celebrated in many temples of Tamil Nadu.
The Madurai Meenakshi temple, the Brihadeeshwarar temple in Thanjavur, Srirangam in Tiruchi, the Arunachala temple in Tiruvannamalai and the shore temple at Kanyakumari organised cultural programmes, special prayers, holy dipping in the nearby waters, taking the deities on heritage wooden chariots and finally immersing idols in the waters.
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