Salem (TN): Madhaiyan (80), the elder brother of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan died of a cardiac arrest at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital in Salem in the early hours of Wednesday, Police said.

A native of Kadumalaikoodal near Mettur in Salem district, Madhaiyan leaves behind his wife.

Madhaiyan was undergoing a life term in the Salem Central Prison and was admitted to the hospital, following complaints of severe chest pain on May 1.

An Erode Court had sentenced him to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of a Forest Ranger, Chidamabaram in 1987 and was in jail for the last 34 years. He had served a jail term in Mysuru for a murder case and was then shifted to the Coimbatore and Salem prisons,                                     Police said.