Insider role suspected in murder of Kalpataru vice-president

CHENNAI: The needle of suspicion in the murder of the 51-year-old V Venkateshwaralu, vice-president at the Chennai division of Mumbai-based power infrastructure company Kalpataru Power Transmission, strongly points towards certain insiders in the company, police sources said.

Venkateshwaralu was hacked to death allegedly by hired killers late on Tuesday evening outside a pharmacy near his home in the presence of his car driver Arumugam, police said. While sources said there has not been any breakthrough in the case so far, on Thursday, the call records of executives in the Chennai unit of Kalpataru Power were being looked into to ascertain if any company insider had a hand the murder.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the backlash against the slain officer's bids to stand in the way of graft could have been a reason for the murder.

Interestingly , the incident has occurred days after Kalpataru bagged a Rs 770-crore order from the state electricity department for a turnkey project. The company had earlier done two transmission projects in Tamil Nadu two 400-KV lines across 267 km. The new project was announced on December 23, 2015.

In a statement, Kalpataru Power's spokesperson said: "It is a moment of im mense grief for us and we are standing strongly behind Venkateshwaralu's family, extending every possible help and support in their hour of need, and will continue to do so. We are fully co-operating with the police in their investigation."