Overview
- Assistant administrative officer D. Ram was arrested late Monday after investigators concluded the December 17 office blaze that killed senior manager A. Kalyani Nambi was intentional.
- Police allege he targeted her after she challenged delays and irregularities tied to more than 40 pending death-claim files and sought to destroy documents by setting them on fire.
- Investigators report recovering petrol-filled bottles and a siphoning tube from his cabin, reviewing CCTV footage, and noting post-mortem injuries inconsistent with an accidental fire.
- Ram initially claimed a masked intruder started the fire, but police say his statements conflicted with the evidence and that he later confessed during interrogation.
- The case has been altered to murder and evidence-destruction offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Tamil Nadu Public Property Act, with the accused under burn treatment as the probe continues.