TIRUNELVELI : Former Tirunelveli Mayor M Uma Maheswari and two others were stabbed to death at her house in Melapalayam by an unidentified gang on Tuesday. The other deceased are her husband Murugasankar (72) and housemaid Mari (50). A DMK women’s wing functionary, Maheswari was the first Mayor of Tirunelveli, holding the position 1991-2001. She contested the 2011 Assembly elections from Sankarankovil constituency and lost to AIADMK’s Karuppusamy.
City commissioner N Baskaran says three people could have been involved in the murder. Jewels worn by Maheswari and valuables stored in the house have been stolen, the police said. “The murder may have taken place between 12 noon and 1 pm,” he said. “The former Mayor’s brother-in-law Lal Bagathur was the first to spot the bodies, lying in a pool of blood on the floor. All three of them were stabbed to death.”
The police have formed special teams to nab the culprits. “Many houses here, including the one targeted, do not have CCTV cameras. We are trying other ways to trace the culprits,” the commissioner said. Sniffer dogs were brought to the crime scene, fingerprints have been collected from the spot. The bodies have been shifted to Tirunelveli medical college hospital. DMK chief MK Stalin expressed his condolences. He recalled her services to Tirunelveli and DMK. He urged the government to find her murderers.