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Sasikala to be quizzed in 2017 Kodanad case
People familiar with the developments in Chennai said that Sasikala is likely to be questioned on her role in the Kodanad estate and information about the assets in the property.
Chennai police have summoned former All India Anna Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary VK Sasikala for questioning in the 2017 Kodanad heist and murder case, one of her associated said on Wednesday.
“We have received the police summons. The questioning will be at her T Nagar residence (in Chennai) on Thursday around 10.30,” said an associate of Sasikala not willing to be identified. A team led by west zone inspector general Sudhakar will conduct the enquiries, he added.
On the night of April 23, 2017, a group of 10 men hacked to death Om Bahadur, a security guard at Kodanad tea estate in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district, which was late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s summer retreat. The land, spread across more than 900 acres, was jointly purchased by Jayalalithaa and her close confidante Sasikala and her family members in the 1990s with varying shares. Jayalalithaa died in a Chennai hospital in December 2016.
On the intervening night, the men broke into the bungalow and allegedly looted the place. After several arrests were made in connection with the case, the trial began in October 2019 at the Nilgiris (district) sessions’ court.
The case has been shrouded in mystery as a week after the break-in, on April 28, two of the main accused met with separate road accidents. C Kanagaraj, who was once Jayalalithaa’s driver, died on the spot near Salem. K V Sayan escaped with serious injuries but his wife and daughter died on the spot while they were on their way to Kerala. Police said that the burglars had broken into the rooms that had been used by both Jayalalithaa and Sasikala.
Last week, the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case interrogated AIADMK MLA V C Arukutty and the party’s Amma Peravai functionary ‘Anubhav’ Ravi in Coimbatore.
Given the relationship, people familiar with the developments said that Sasikala is likely to be questioned on her role in the Kodanad estate and information about the assets in the property. Last December, Sasikala’s nephew Vivek Jayaraman was also questioned in the case.
Jayaraman, the head of a Tamil channel owned by Sasikala’s family called Jaya TV, was one of the first high profile persons to be questioned in the case. Police remained tight lipped and did not reveal details on Jayaraman’s connection to the case and what the questioning entailed.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which was in the opposition at the time of the crime, had then sought the resignation of Edappadi Palaniswami who took over as chief minister following Jayalalithaa’s death. After the DMK formed the government in May, the police furthered investigations into the case.
On October 26, police arrested Kanagaraj’s brother C Dhanapal, 44 and relative R Ramesh, 34, and produced them before a judicial magistrate. “They were arrested on the charges of destruction of evidence and have now been lodged at the Gudalur sub-jail,” said a senior police officer at the time. The duo was booked under sections 201 (causing disappearance or destruction of evidence of offence) and 204 (whoever secretes or destroys any document or electronic record which he may be lawfully compelled to produce as evidence in a Court) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“There is more to go in the case and further investigations will continue,” the officer had said.
In the early stages of the investigation, the police had then alleged that Kanagaraj plotted the crime with another prime accused K V Sayan. Four days later Kanagaraj died in a road accident near Salem while Sayan’s family died in another road accident near Kerala he survived with injuries.
The case has been in the spotlight since former chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami’s name has been linked to the crime which he has dismissed and alleged that the DMK government has been trying to frame him. Sayan had earlier made a connection with Palaniswami in the case which he and the police later denied. However, after the DMK formed the government in May, police further quizzed Sayan in the case. Following this, a jittery Palaniswami led a walkout of AIADMK legislators from the assembly, complained to the state Governor and witnesses in the even moved the Madras high court against the further probe in the case. The court dismissed the petition.
