Judicial inquiry into death of Lottery’ Martin’s accountant commences

T Palanisamy, who was working as an accountant in the group of companies owned by Martin, was found dead in a pond near Karamadai on May 3. The Coimbatore rural police registered a case of suspicious death and held inquiries but was clueless on the cause of his death.

The family members had refused to receive the body, which has been kept in the mortuary of Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) over the last 18 days, demanding a judicial probe.

They had alleged that Palanisamy’s body had several injury marks, adding that he was subjected to severe torture by sleuths of the Income Tax Department, who carried out a co-ordinated raid in over 70 premises belonging to Martin in Coimbatore, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and other cities across the country last month.

Subsequently, Palanisamy’s son Rohin Kumar moved the High Court seeking a magisterial inquiry. Following an order by the High Court, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Coimbatore, S Nagarajan on Tuesday appointed eighth judicial magistrate M Ramadhas to conduct an inquiry into the case.

The magistrate was directed to conduct the inquiry adhering to all instructions of the Madras High Court and submit a report in a sealed cover at the earliest. “Post inquiry, the magistrate will decide whether a re-postmortem as sought by Rohin Kumar is required or not,” sources said.

Ramadhas visited the mortuary at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) around 10.30 am on Wednesday and examined Palanisamy’s body. He also reviewed the post-mortem report. Palanisamy’s wife Santhamani and Rohin Kumar then urged him to order a re-postmortem on the deceased person.

On hearing them, the magistrate asked the family to submit a petition in this regard. Ramadhas also visited the pond, where Palanisamy was found dead, and held inquiries.