Jayalalithaa who arrived in Tiruchirappalli by a special flight from Chennai offered condolence to the minister’s wife Fathima Beevi and other family members.
Talking to media after paying homage to the minister by placing a wreathe on his body, Jayalalithaa said “the public and her partymen suspect that there is some mystery about the accident. Police have registered a case and it will be transferred to the CB-CID,” she said. She said if anybody was found guilty they would be tried as per the law.
According to police the minister’s car driver told them that the truck with Kerala registration had deliberately turn sharply towards the minister’s car and hit the spot where Pitchai was sitting, and he suspected that it was not an accident.
Mariam Pitchai was killed in a road on the spot when his car collided with a truck at Tiruvelankurichi, about 40 km from Tiruchirappalli.
He was sworn-in on May 16 following the AIADMK-led front’s landslide victory in the assembly polls.
The truck had sped away, police said, adding only after apprehending the driver complete details of the accident can be known.