Kodanad estate case: OPS faction to protest against TN govt citing inaction

Chennai, July 11 (IANS) The AIADMK expelled coordinator and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O. Panneerselvam (OPS) and his faction would be conducting a protest march in Tamil Nadu in August against the inaction of the Stalin-led DMK government in the Kodanad estate murder and loot case.

OPS in a press conference on Tuesday said that the DMK had clearly stated in its manifesto that if the party forms a government it will conduct a reinvestigation into the Kodanad estate murder and loot that happened during the period of the previous government.

While OPS has come out against Stalin and DMK government, he is targeting his AIADMK rival and party general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS).

Kodanad estate was the summer residence of former Chief Minister Late J. Jayalalithaa and her aide and close associate V.K. Sasikala. After the passing away of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016 and arrest of Sasikala in February 2017, a group of men had barged into the Kodanad estate on the intervening night of April 23-24. A guard in the estate bungalow Om Thapar was murdered and another guard Krishna Thapa was grievously injured.

Police conducted an investigation and registered a case against a gang led by the former driver of Jayalalithaa, Kanagaraj, who was hailing from Edappadi in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

Five days after the breaking in into the Kodanad estate, Kanagaraj, who was driving a two-wheeler on the Chennai-Salem highway met with an accident when a truck collided with his two-wheeler leading to his instant death. On the same day another truck hit a car driven by another accused Sayen in Palakkad district of Kerala. In the accident Sayen escaped but his wife and daughter died.

A few months later, the computer operator of the estate,  Dileep Kumar committed suicide at his residence. There were reports that the deaths were unnatural and that someone was trying to silence all those who knew of the loot and the murder at the Kodanad estate bungalow.

The DMK has promised that it would reopen the case and conduct an investigation. However, OPS alleged that there has not been any progress in the investigation and that he would launch an agitation across the state against this.