Former minister and ex-speaker of Union Territory of Puducherry VMC Sivakumar was hacked to death by unknown assailants at noon today.
Sivakumar, former Agriculture Minister, was on his way to inspect construction work when his car was blocked by the gang at Neravy-TR Pattinam near Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district and attacked with sickles, police said.
He was rushed to government hospital, where he was declared brought dead, they said.
67-year-old Sivakumar is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters.
He was the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2000 during the previous DMK regime.
Sivakumar was MLA for five terms - four times on DMK ticket and once as independent - since 1980 representing Neravy-TR Pattinam constituency.
In 2011, he was denied ticket by the DMK. He had then successfully contest the polls as an independent candidate, defeating party nominee Geetha by 358 votes.
The former DMK strongman had later joined AIADMK in 2016. He, however, suffered loss in the previous Assembly polls which he contest on AIADMK’s ticket.
With PTI Inputs
