Accused in Kodanad Estate heist and murder case denied bail

Justice R Subramanian rejected the plea after conceding with the prosecution’s submission that letting them out on bail would affect the ongoing trial or lead to disturbance of witnesses.

As per the case, duo was granted bail within months of arrest. However, the bail was cancelled in February 2019 after they gave a television interview regarding the crime. The ground for cancellation was that they had attempted to influence the witnesses. However, their detention under Goonda’s Act was set aside by the High Court.

During the hearing, Justice Subramanian had come out hard on the prosecution for the delay in responding to the bail plea and that they could not be kept under suspended animation. The prosecution should establish whether enlarging them on bail would affect the trial or witnesses, the judge had held, and pointed out that as the trial was in an advanced stage as per the prosecution itself, the bail plea should be decided at the earliest.

As per the prosecution, the trial in the Kodanad murder case had begun and 32 witnesses had been examined so far.

In April 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad Estate, late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s retreat home in The Nilgiris, was found dead. During the probe, it had emerged that Jayalalithaa’s former driver C Kanagaraj and Sayan had allegedly plotted the crime.