DMK demanded home secretary-monitored probe into guard's murder

The BJP's state unit too sought an "expanded probe" into the killing of the 50 year-old guard, Om Bahadur on Monday in Nilgiris district.

Both parties questioned the police' claim that only wrist watches and a crystal show-piece were stolen and alleged there were several "mysteries and knots" in the case, which also saw the death of a key accused in a road accident in Salem district.

"The police has not come forward to give proper reasons on how the key accused and former driver of Jayalalithaa, Kanakaraj, was killed in a sudden accident or how his accomplice Sayan too was involved in a mishap," DMK leader MK Stalin said.

Asserting that "it cannot be believed" that only watches were stolen, he suspected there were attempts to "divert" the attention from the murder with some "ulterior motive." He said it did not seem "normal" that two suspects wanted in the same case could meet with mishaps at different places.

The state police is "under obligation" to probe what has been missing from the bungalow, such as the property documents and the currency notes, he said in a statement.

"The murder of the guard, the stealing of watches and the accidents involving Kanakaraj and Sayan should all be probed together and the knots should be removed carefully. There is no place to believe that handing over the probe to local officials will yield a transparent investigation."

"I request the probe to be handed over to an honest ADGP (Additional Director General of Police)-level official and to be monitored by the state home secretary," said Stalin, also the leader of opposition in the Tami Nadu Assembly.

BJP's state unit president Tamilisai Soundarrajan too called for an "expanded probe" into the matter. "Although it looks like an honest probe, there have been mysteries, accidents and deaths. Initially they said nothing was stolen... now they say some articles were stolen. So we seek an expanded probe," she said.

The probe by police, meanwhile, has revealed involvement of 11 persons in the case, of which four have been arrested. Kanakaraj, who hailed from Salem, conspired for dacoity with 10 others, including Sayan from Coimbatore, said police. As per the probe so far, the motive behind the offence is suspected to be robbery, it said.