VK Sasikala was then serving a sentence in a corruption case in a Bangalore jail.
Chennai:
A special team of Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday questioned All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief VK Sasikala in connection with the sensational 2017 murders and robbery at former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanadu Estate bungalow.
The police interrogated him at his T Nagar home in Chennai.
Ms. Sasikala was serving her sentence in a Bengaluru jail in a corruption case when a security guard at the estate was killed and the palace bungalow was vandalized. At the time, police said some items were stolen, including a watch and a crystal rhinoceros.
However, four other mysterious deaths further complicated the matter. Firstly, the prime accused Kanagaraj, who was Jayalalithaa’s former driver, died in an accident near Edappadi, the hometown of former Chief Minister E Palaniswami. On the same day, the second accused Sion also had an accident. Although he survived, his wife and daughter died. Later, the computer operator of the estate died by suicide.
Some had linked these killings to the political churn in the state after the death of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Although it was Ms Sasikala who made EPS chief minister before she was sent to jail, she joined hands with rival O Panneerselvam or OPS, who had previously rebelled against Ms Sasikala, and both ousted her as AIADMK chief Was.
After the DMK government came to power last year, the police told the court that they would have to investigate the matter further after getting the latest information. Mr Palaniswami, or EPS as he is known, called the renewed investigation an “attempt to implicate me”.
Chief Minister MK Stalin denied the charge and said, “The investigation into the Kodanadu dacoity and murder is an election promise. We are doing this with the permission of the court. There is no need to fear if someone is not guilty.”