india

Updated: Jul 30, 2019 06:01 IST

A Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionary’s son has been detained by the police in connection with the July 23 murder of former mayor of Tirunelveli city, Uma Maheshwari, her husband and their maid.

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday transferred the case to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID).

A special team of the Tirunelveli police nabbed the suspect, Karthikeyan (39), from a hideout in Madurai late on Sunday night. Karthikeyan is the son of Seeniammal, Tirunelveli district DMK scheduled caste wing deputy secretary. Uma Maheshwari, the first woman mayor of Tirunelveli in 1996, her husband Murugasankaran and housemaid, Mari, were killed by armed assailants at her residence at Rose Nagar in the city on July 23 .

The police have also questioned the suspect’s mother Seeniammal.