MALAYSIAN COPS GRILL USHARANI IN CHENNAI

By P. Vijian

CHENNAI, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian police team has questioned Indian
millionaire A. Muthuraja's widow and a film financer to facilitate
investigations into the killing of the wealthy man in Malaysia.

S. Usharani, 24, second wife of Muthuraja, was interrogated here Thursday,
for several hours by the high-ranking police officers from the federal police
headquarters in Bukit Aman.

They also examined some crucial items in her possession.

"They spent between three and four hours, recording a statement from
Usharani. They will also be questioning a film producer regarding a land scam in
Malaysia, and another Indian national involved in a land scam in Melaka.

"The police are here to get more details on four different commercial
crimes, mostly involving land scams," Malaysian Consul-General Anuar Kasman told
Bernama Friday.

Usharani had told local media that she had submitted documents relating to
the sale of land and her husband's laptop, to Malaysian police officers.

The police began probing Muthuraja's death, following the murder of
cosmetics tycoon Sosilawati Lawiya and three others in Banting last
August.

One of two brothers, lawyer N. Pathmanabhan, and his three co-workers were
charged in a court in Banting last Wednesday, for the multiple murders.

Sosilawati 47, her driver, Kamaruddin Shansuddin, 44, CIMB Bank Kampung Baru
branch officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abd Karim, 32,
were murdered after a multi-million ringgit land deal went awry.

The killings occured at a farm in Banting, Selangor.

Banting is a principal town in the district of Kuala Langat, Selangor in
Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA