CHENNAI: He was a dreaded and the most-wanted man of the State for years. But, even a day after the news about ‘Don’ Sridhar’s alleged suicide surfaced, it seems the Tamil Nadu police are in no haste to verify the claims.
When Express contacted the Indian Embassy in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, an official there said they have not received any alert over the issue. Neither have they received any information about the death of such an Indian citizen there. All that the police officers here seem to know were the claims made by Sridhar’s family members that he killed self on Wednesday by consuming cyanide and died in a hospital in Cambodia around 6.30 pm.
Sridhar was believed to be hiding in Cambodia while facing at least 43 cases, including seven murders, in his hometown Kancheepuram. He had escaped from the country in 2013 with a fake passport and was till recently believed to be hiding in Dubai. He owns huge tracts of land that he allegedly acquired through extortion.
Though the Enforcement Directorate had been tightening its screws on Sridhar by attaching property owned by him and his family members, the police were never able to arrest him . On Wednesday night, the news was allegedly broken by Sridhar’s cook in Cambodia, who called his family members in Kancheepuram and said Sridhar killed self by consuming poison. “When we asked the cook to send a photo of the body, he refused,” said a police officer.
However, a senior police officer said they would follow the protocol and contact the Indian embassy soon. It is not clear yet if the police would press for a DNA verification to ascertain if the deceased was indeed Sridhar.
It is also not clear if the body will be brought to Kancheepuram. On Wednesday night, Sridhar’s elder daughter Dhanalakshmi, along with two others, is believed to have flown to Phnom Penh. Also, Sridhar’s son Santhosh, who was in London, reportedly flew directly to Phnom Penh.
Sridhar’s wife Kumari and another daughter Charumathy are in Kancheepuram.