Friday, September 24, 2010

Muthuraja ‘movie plot’ unravels

THIRUNELVELI: The case of missing Indian businessman A. Muthuraja is playing like a drama - with the mystery of his disappearance, a search that spans two nations and a very nasty family feud.

His mother A. Ramalakshmi has made it known that her son was not on good terms with his wife S. Usharani.

She claimed her son wanted to “escape” from Usharani because she was always putting him under pressure.

“They quarrelled all the time and Usharani had threatened to commit suicide,” she added.

“He has asked me many times to take care of his three-year-old daughter Lakshmi Shree so he could walk away from the destructive relationship,” she said at her ancestral home in Thenkasi near here.

According to Ramalakshmi, Muthuraja spent most of his time in his estate in Mekarai, about 20km from Thenkasi.

She added that Muthuraja had built a house on the estate, which also had a waterfall and spent a lot of time there with his family and friends.

Muthuraja’s family members said his relationship with Usharani was a “mistake” after he became estranged from his first wife S. Ramalakshmi.

They claimed Usharani was a widow with one child when she met Muthuraja.

Muthuraja’s younger brother Dr Kasi Viswanathan said Usharani got married when she was only 15. Her wealthy husband later died and left her his assets.

Sources in Chennai said Muthuraja and Usharani had moved into an apartment only a day before he left for Malaysia on Jan 18.

“Judging from the amount of clothing he had packed, it looked like he was leaving,” the source said.