KARUR: Tension prevailed for a while at the collectorate here as well as at the government hospital when some residents and the caretaker of a nonagenarian woman, approached the district collector S Jayanthi on Monday to “retrieve” the woman, who is now undergoing treatment at the government hospital in Karur.
On a complaint that the old woman was being kept in a state of “Jeeva samathi” by her purported caretakers, the State authorities ‘rescued’ her from a farmhouse near Noyyal in Karur district, and admitted her in the hospital a few days ago.
Meanwhile, villagers of Noyyal and Dr. Natarajan of Kodumudi in Erode district, who has been taking care of the 95-year-old woman Umadevi, popularly known as Sithar Patti, in his farmhouse near Noyyal for more than six years, approached the district collector with a petition, urging to take steps to “bring back” Ms Umadevi to his care.
Dr. Natarajan alleged that one Shanmugasundaram of the same village, seeking to take advantage of the fact the old lady had many disciples due to her age and benign qualities, was now attempting to earn money through Umadevi by projecting her as a divine Goddess-like person.
