SNDP leader demands probe into former close aide's suicide

Thiruvananthapuram, June 24 (IANS) K.K. Mahesan, former close aide of SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellapally Natesan, committed suicide by hanging himself at the SNDP Kaniechikulengara office near Alappuzha on Wednesday, a day after the crime branch of the police questioned him.Mahesan, according to sources, had send a detailed note to his close friends on the way he was being hounded and made a scapegoat.SNDP is the social movement of the Hindu Ezhava community. The deceased was also secretary of the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), the second biggest ally of the BJP-led NDA in the state.The police are probing the alleged swindling in the micro finance operations, run by Natesan's SNDP Yogam. Mahesan had been questioned in the past too.Reacting to Mahesan's suicide, Natesan said he was shocked to hear his untimely demise and demanded a thorough probe into it.Of late, Mahesan and Natesan were not having the best of relations. Mahesan had also written a detailed letter to the crime branch, stating his innocence.
--IANS sg/pcj