india

Updated: Jul 24, 2019 11:45 IST

A former DMK mayor, and two others, including her husband and their domestic help were murdered at their residence by an unidentified gang on Tuesday evening, said police.

Police said the former mayor, Uma Maheswari (51), her husband Muruga Sankaran (58) and maid Mari (30) were murdered by the gang with machetes and sickles at Reddiyarpatti, Tirunelveli.

The killings took place at around 5 pm on Tuesday and the assailants fled after committing the crime, police added.

Uma Maheswari won the mayoral election in 1996 on a DMK ticket and she was the first woman to hold the office of the city corporation.

“An unidentified mob armed with crude weapons barged into the house of Maheswari and attacked the former mayor and her husband with machetes and sickles. Mari who attempted to protect the duo was also killed. All three of them died on the spot. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination,” said a police officer.

The deceased former mayor and her husband are survived by their daughter, M Karthiga, a lecturer in a private college. Their son had died in a road mishap a few years ago. The couple have enormous wealth in Tirunelveli and the investigation is also on whether the killing was to appropriate their property, police said.

The maid, Mari, is survived by three daughters.

Besides a sniffer dog, fingerprint experts were brought to the spot for examination.

“The gold jewellery of the deceased were missing. Three special teams have been formed to nab the accused. We will arrest the culprits soon,” N Bhaskaran, commissioner of Police who inspected the murder spot said.

In a condolence message, DMK president MK Stalin termed the demise of Maheswari as a great loss to the party. Expressing concern at the murders of DMK functionaries, he demanded that the culprits be nabbed immediately. “The recurring murder of DMK leaders exposes the pathetic law and order situation under the AIADMK government,” he said.