The Madras High Court has directed Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police to conduct an inquiry regarding the alleged “mystery” behind the death of noted educationist and philanthropist Meena Muthiah in Ooty on May 2, 2026 and the role of her servant K.T.R. Raja Karuppan Chetty alias Karuppiah in her “suspicious” death.Justice Mohammed Shaffiq has also directed the Commissioner to take action on the basis of a complaint accusing Mr. Chetty of having amassed ₹800 crore belonging to the Chettinad family by misusing his proximity with Meena Muthiah and by keeping her son M.A.M.M. Annamalai at a distance.The judge made it clear the police inquiry must conclude, at the earliest, since she was the secretary of Kumara Rajah Muthiah School of Traditional Arts & Crafts, a registered society which runs the Chettinad Vidyashram school in Chennai and “thus the interests of students are also at stake.”The orders were passed on a writ petition filed by V. Palaniappan, a member of the registered society. The petitioner had lodged a nine-page complaint with the police on May 26, 2026 levelling charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust, fabrication of records and so on against Mr. Chetty.According to the complainant, Mr. Chetty had initially joined the Chettinad household in a modest domestic capacity. Over time, by exploiting his proximity to Meena Muthiah, he entrenched himself within the household’s administrative structure and capitalised on internal family dynamics to assume absolute control over communications, administration, and access to family members.“Once she fell prey to his ill-motive, he had secured all her wealth. Thereafter, when she identified his ulterior motive and started digging up the secret, he cleverly planned a trip to Ooty, without even informing any of her relatives, including her son, that too, when she was weak and her activity was restricted due to her advanced age, deliberately putting her life at risk,” the complaint read.“The circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. Meena Muthiah are deeply suspicious. The accused has deliberately obstructed any efforts to ascertain the true medical cause of her demise. He flew her remains from Ooty to Chennai without even informing her son of the initial travel, nor did he inform him of his own mother’s passing. Furthermore, he orchestrated her last rites on that very same evening in undue haste, intentionally creating chaos during the funeral to divert attention away from the mystery surrounding her death,” Mr. Palaniappan alleged.Accusing Mr. Chetty of having amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income, the complainant said, a detailed investigation into the issue would reveal how he had siphoned off the society funds and compromised the charitable objectives of the Chettinad family.Mr. Palaniappan also accused Mr. Chetty of not having handed over the accounts and administrative control of the registered society to industrialist P. Vijayakumar Reddy who had been appointed as its interim administrator by the High Court last month. He said, Mr. Chetty was continuing to withdraw funds from the society’s bank accounts and thereby causing severe administrative hindrance. Published - June 01, 2026 07:36 pm IST