Minister dies in mishap; Jaya orders probe

TIRUCHY: In a tragic road accident, a newly appointed minister in the AIADMK government, 60-year-old N Mariyam Pichai, who defeated DMK’s K N Nehru in Tiruchy West constituency, was killed on Monday morning, triggering doubts over the cause of the mishap in the minds of the locals and party cadre, prompting Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to order a CB-CID probe.The minister for environment and pollution control was heading to Chennai to attend the MLAs’ oath-taking ceremony when his Innova SUV hit a container lorry at around 7.10 am on the Thiruvilakurichi Branch Road near Padalur in Perambalur district on the Tiruchy-Chennai National Highway.The driver, S Anandan (34) of Mogappair, Chennai, told the police that he was about to overtake the lorry when it swerved to the right, making him lose control and hit the vehicle’s rear. The lorry driver fled after the mishap.While Pichai’s personal security officer, Maheswaran, suffered a severe spinal cord injury, others in the car received minor injuries. Minister for sports and youth development N R Sivapathy was in another car following Pichai, whose body was taken to the Tiruchy GH around 7.40 am. After the postmortem, partymen who took the body in a procession to Maryam  Theatre, owned by the late minister, and kept it for the public to pay homage. Jayalalithaa flew down to Tiruchy before attending the oath-taking ceremony. Shops and business establishments downed shutters and private buses stopped operation for an hour after the accident.The burial will be held at the Na Mu Masjid at 2 pm on Tuesday.