Kodanad case: Nilgiris cops grill Sasikala for over 6 hours, leave after first enquiry

Chennai: A team led by R Sudhakar , IG, west zone, questioned V K Sasikala at her house in T Nagar, in connection with heist-cum-murder incident happened at her Kodanad estate, which was a favourite retreat of late CM Jayalalithaa, in April 2017. Sasikala, who owned the estate, was in jail when the incident happened.

The police team of IG, Nilgiris SP Ashish Rawat and ADSP reached the house of Sasikala in Habibullah Road at around 11 am and started the enquiry with Sasikala, once a powerful shadow of AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa. The team left the premise around 5.30 pm after finishing the enquiry on first day.

The police team is trying to find out who was in charge if Kodanad bungalow in the absence of Jaya and Sasikala. The investigators also wanted to know the details of valuables and documents missing from the bungalow. This is the first time police are questioning Sasikala, in connection with the crime.

The incident – the murder of a guard and heist happened on the night of April, 23, 2017, - inside the estate. An armed gang trespassed into the estate and decamped with some valuables after killing one of the guards.

Jayalalithaa had passed away in December 2016. In 2020 October, the IT department had attached the Kodanad property belonging to Sasikala.

After DMK came to power in the last Assembly election, the case was reopened and a new team of police officials had started fresh investigation into the case in August 2021 'based on new evidence'.

The prime accused KV Sayan of Kerala was granted bail in the case by Madras High court in July 2021. Though he was given bail by the jurisdiction court two months after his arrest in 2017, his bail was cancelled in the year 2019, after he gave a media interview alleging that then chief minister Edappadi Palaniswamy had a role in the crime.

Police had earlier claimed that the robbery was planned by Kanagaraj, a former driver of Jayalalithaa and Sayan. Kanagaraj was killed in an accident in April 2017 while Sayan too met with an accident the same day in Palakkad, Kerala in which his wife and child were killed. These accidents had fueled the speculation that there was someone influential behind the crime.