Coimbatore: Relatives of Dr Umashankar, chairman of Chennai Hospitals who was run over by a car on Saturday, initially refused to take the body home after postmortem on Sunday.
Former employees of the hospital and the relatives staged a demonstration at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), where the postmortem was held, claiming that Umashankar was murdered over a business dispute.
But the Thudiyalur police ruled out foul play. “Preliminary inquiry revealed that Richard of Coonoor was behind the wheel of the car that mowed down Umashankar. He was on the way to a cinema hall with his family when the accident happened. He was using a navigation app to reach the place and had lost control over the vehicle. We questioned him but did not find any foul play,” inspector Balamurali Sundaram said.
“However, Umashankar’s family has lodged a petition against the chairman of a hospital. We are investigating all angles,” the inspector added.
The family received the body after cops pacified them.
Umashankar had leased Ellen Hospital at Gandhipuram to launch Chennai Hospitals in 2017. The city crime branch had arrested him last December along with hospital manager Maruthavanan for cheating the owner of Ellen Hospital, Dr P Ramachandran, 72, of Rs 4.5 crore.