In 2017, after her demise, Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad retreat in the Nilgiris witnessed a murder and robbery. Three people related to the heist died — two in accidents and one by suicide. Now five years later, the late chief minister’s aide, VK Sasikala, has been questioned for her involvement in it
Ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was questioned by the cops in the Kodanad case at her residence. PTI
VK Sasikala, the close aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, has been questioned by a special team of the state police on Thursday, in connection to the 2017 murders and robbery at the Kodanad estate bungalow.
The probe team questioned the ousted All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader at her T Nagar residence, according to Indian Express.
What’s the case all about? Why are the police investigating a 2017 case? We take a look back at what happened and how a tale of a heist, turned into murders and more.
All about the Kodanad estate bungalow
Located in the picturesque Nilgiris district, the Kodanad estate, spread across 906 acres, belonged to former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her aide VK Sasikala.
Surrounded by hills and tea plantations, this house was considered the ‘pseudo Secretariat’ after Jayalalithaa came to power and owing to the amount of time she spent there.
It has been reported that Jayalalithaa held a special place for this hillside heaven and ensured that it was guarded like a fortress.
According to an India Today report, she had state police as well as private security on the premises.
Jayalalithaa liked the house and often took boat trips on the lake situated on the estate and spent great many hours at this sprawling bungalow.
Jayalalitha’s niece Deepa Madhavan, has said in prior news reports that the bungalow was a treat for anyone who stayed there.
It all began from the Kodanad estate’s security guard Om Bahadur being killed in April 2017 and items like costly watches and a crystal rhinoceros figurine in the bungalow being looted. News18
One heist and four murders
After Jayalalithaa’s death and Sasikala was serving her sentence in a corruption case in a Bengaluru jail, a robbery-turned murder at the Kodanad estate grabbed headlines.
In the wee hours of 24 April, 2017, a gang of 11 people led by C Kanagaraj, who was once a driver at Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence, hatched a conspiracy to rob Jayalalithaa’s bungalow.
The police later reported that the thieves believed crores of cash was stashed in the house.
They broke into the estate, attacked and killed Om Bahadur, one of the security guards present at the site.
The police revealed that the gang was able to rob 10 watches and a crystal rhino worth Rs 42,000.
What happened next was baffling and added mystery to the entire case.
Five days after the heist, Kanagaraj, the main accused in the heist, was killed in an accident on the Salem-Chennai highway in Attur.
On that very day, Sayan — another accused in the robbery — from Thrissur in Kerala also met with an accident near Palakkad, with his car ramming a parked lorry. While his wife and daughter died, Sayan escaped with injuries.
On 3 July, Dinesh Kumar, who was then 29, and a computer operator from the Kodanad estate died at his residence in Kotagiri. At the time, the police said it was a case of suicide.
Stirring up a political storm
The heist-murder case whipped up a political storm in 2019, with the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham demanding the resignation of Edappadi K Palaniswami.
The demands came on the heels of the claim made by Sayan in an interview to journalist Mathew Samuel. Sayan had alleged that then Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had ordered the break-in to retrieve money and important documents from the estate.
This was immediately refuted by Palaniswami.
Also, three of the other accused in the crime moved the court seeking the interrogation of EPS, Sasikala, the then Nilgiris collector, and then district police chief, alleging the real culprits were let off by “lethargic” investigations in the case.
The three claimed that the trial at the Nilgiris court was “hurried”, “influenced” and “monitored” by persons holding power in the former ruling party, a reference to the AIADMK.
When the DMK won the state Assembly elections in 2021, they took up the investigations again.
The re-investigations has led the AIADMK to accusing the ruling party of a political witch hunt. However, the DMK maintained that the investigation is meant to bring out the truth in the case. With many glaring loopholes, the DMK claims that the fresh investigation will help affected people get justice in the case.
With inputs from agencies
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