THOOTHUKUDI: Hours before a scheduled visit by a cooperative society’s officials for an inspection, a 52-year-old secretary of a Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) in Srivaikuntam died allegedly after an inverter battery blast at the society office on Tuesday. However, police did not rule out suicide as a petrol can was found in the room.
According to sources, the victim, Sridharan of Pudukudi, was working as a secretary at the PACS office on Mutharaman Temple Street. Sridharan was alone when the blast occurred, sources said, adding that the fire and smoke engulfed the glass-panelled cabin.
When onlookers went to rescue him, Sridharan was found lying on the ground. He was shifted to the Srivaikuntam government hospital, where the doctors declared him dead.
Two other staff members, who were on the campus, had stepped out for lunch when the incident occurred. “The suspicion of suicide cannot be ruled out as the cooperative’s officials were scheduled to check the jewellery deposited against loans in the bank,” said a police officer. The postmortem report will help ascertain the cause of the death, a police officer said.
Police have registered a case.