Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP from Erode, Tamil Nadu, A. Ganeshamurthi, died on Thursday morning at a private hospital in Coimbatore after having a heart attack. He had been admitted to the hospital on March 24 following an incident where he reportedly tried to take his own life by ingesting poisonous pills.

The Erode Town police had registered an attempt to suicide case but it will now be altered to a death by suicide case, PTI reported citing police official. 

The body has been handed over by the hospital authorities to the police, who took it to the Institute of Road Transport (IRT) Medical College Hospital for autopsy. After post-mortem, the body will be taken to Kumaravalasu village for burial, PTI reported.

The police said, Ganeshamurthi, who was elected on a DMK ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, developed uneasiness and was admitted to a private hospital in the city on March 24. Following an initial examination, he was admitted to the ICU and placed on a ventilator, as per PTI reports. Subsequently, the Lok Sabha MP was transferred to a private hospital in the vicinity of Coimbatore.

Several politicians including state minister for urban development and housing S Muthusamy, BJP MLA from Modakurichi Dr C Saraswathy, and AIADMK leader K V Ramalingam had rushed to the hospital to enquire about Ganeshamurthi's health.

Ganeshamurthi, a three-time MP, held significant roles within the MDMK hierarchy. He was said to be distressed by the party's decision not to nominate him to contest from the Erode constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The DMK has chosen to field its own candidate in Erode, opting to allocate the Tiruchy constituency to the MDMK instead. Durai Vaiko, the son of MDMK general secretary Vaiko, has been designated as the party's candidate for Tiruchy.

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