A special team of Tamil Nadu Police has arrested five people in this connection. Kodanad murder-theft case On Monday, four years after its investigation began. The brother of main accused Kanagaraj, who was the driver of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and was killed in a car accident in April 2017, is one of the five people arrested in the case.
Dhanpal, 44, a kin of Kanagaraj, was arrested by the team along with another accused Ramesh in the Nilgiris. Police sources told CNN-News18 that the two were tampering with crucial evidence related to the case.
He is presently lodged in the Guadalur Jail in the Nilgiris.
Weeks before Monday’s arrest, police under the new DMK government decided to reopen the case when the Nilgiris district court was in the final stages of hearing.
Back in 2017, the two prime suspects, Sion and Kanagaraj, were suspiciously involved in accidents a day apart. Kanagaraj had reportedly died in an accident in Salem. The next day, Sayan was reportedly involved in a road accident in which he lost his wife and daughter.
The arrest made on Monday is the first arrest in this case. After MK Stalin became the Chief Minister, the pace of investigation was going at a snail’s pace.
Former CM and AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami had shown renewed interest in the case and alleged that Stalin’s government was involved in a fishing operation to implicate him in the investigation.
The police may make similar arrests in the coming days.
It all started when the estate’s security guard, Om Bahadur, was murdered in April 2017, with things like expensive watches and a crystal rhinoceros statue in the bungalow looted. The investigation of the case was started under the AIADMK government. According to the police, Om died during the robbery while another security guard Kishan Bahadur was seriously injured. Eleven people, including Sion (a former driver from Kodanad) have been made accused in connection with the incident, who came in three vehicles, including two high-end SUVs.
According to officials, Kishan Bahadur had recorded his statement but was allowed to return to his home in Nepal, so his current location is unknown. Forensic experts had said that the evidence was tampered with before reaching the crime scene as several top bureaucrats had reached the Kodanad estate. Sion is demanding further investigation saying that he will have to confess before the court. In a 16-minute documentary released by journalist Mathew Samuel in 2019, Sion and another accused, Walayar Manoj, alleged that the then Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had given a contract for the robbery. EPS immediately denied the allegation.
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