The special investigation team probing the Kodanad heist-cum-murder case on Monday, April 18, interrogated the party's Amma Peravai functionary 'Anubhav' Ravi at Coimbatore. This comes two days after questioning former AIADMK MLA VC Arukutty in the case. The Kodanad estate was former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalitha’s second office and residence for years.
Ravi is the Coimbatore district joint secretary of the Amma Peravai and is linked to the case through a phone call made by the key accused to him before his death. The key accused in the case Kanagaraj died in an accident four days after the incident at Kodanadu Estate in Nilgiris district, where the security guard Om Bahadur was murdered on April 24, 2017. Kanagaraj had reportedly made his last phone call to Ravi.
Based on this, the team led by West Zone IG R Sudhakar interrogated Ravi for more than three hours, police said. Former legislator Arukutty was similarly interrogated on April 15 over the case. Ten persons were arrested and are facing trial in Kotagiri Court and nearly 200 people have been questioned in this case.
A watchman who worked at Jayalalithaa's Kodanad estate was found murdered on April 23, 2017, by a gang of alleged robbers, headed by Kanakaraj, Jayalalithaa's former driver, and a man named Sayan from Kerala. They had reportedly broken in, murdered the guard and escaped with 10 watches including one worth Rs 42,000. Five days later, Kanakaraj was killed in an accident and Sayan met with another accident. Though Sayan survived the accident, he lost his wife and child in the incident.
Following allegations of lapses in the investigation, the state police, under the new DMK government, filed a memo in August 2021, informing the Madras High Court that they were doing further investigation into the case. Three of the accused in the case had earlier filed a petition seeking an investigation, alleging that AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami played a role in the heist. Following this, several people have been questioned, including the former manager of the bungalow.
(With PTI inputs)