Expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam’s camp on Tuesday said it would hold a state-wide protest on August 1 to urge the DMK regime to expedite the probe in the 2017 Kodanad heist-cum-murder case and punish the perpetrators of the crime.
The protest is also to condemn the DMK government for ’sleeping’ over the case without giving additional attention and importance, former AIADMK leader and OPS loyalist R Vaithilingam told reporters here.
The heist-cum-murder of 2017 in Kodanad in the hilly Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu remains in limelight as it happened in a bungalow there, which was used on and off by late chief Minister J Jayalalithaa as a camp office-cum-residence. The former AIADMK supremo died in December 2016.
The AIADMK hit back at the OPS camp reiterating that it was merely the DMK’s B-team and the protest move was to support the ’evil motive’ of the ruling party in the Kodanad case.
Vaithiligam, flanked by OPS and former AIADMK veteran Panruti S Ramachandran, read out from a statement.
To a question related to suspicions if any, Vaithilingam said: ”It may be X or Y, those who did that should be brought to book…it is the job of the police department to find out the culprits.” Panneerselvam, when asked about suspicions, also said it was the police department’s responsibility to ’probe in-depth’ and find out the culprits behind the crime. ”Only to stress this we are going to hold a (state-wide) protest…the government is also silent.” Asked if the probe was ’blunted’ during the 2017-2021 AIADMK regime when Edappadi K Palaniswami was the Chief Minister, he said it would be known following a comprehensive probe.
It was the duty and responsibility of the government to come out clear on those who were behind the crime, Panneerselvam said.
When his attention was drawn to the fact that he was the deputy chief minister during 2017-2021 he said, the post of Deputy CM had ’no authority’ whatsoever barring the specific portfolios he held.
The subject of law and order, police and home departments were under the Chief Minister’s domain.
Vaithilingam and another supporter, Paul Manoj Pandian pointed out that on the date of occurrence of the crime (April 24, 2017), OPS was not the deputy CM. Vaithilingam said Chief Minister M K Stalin had assured, ahead of the 2021 Assembly election that perpetrators of the Kodanad crime would be brought to justice within 90 days of assuming power.
AIADMK senior leader D Jayakumar alleged the DMK regime had an evil motive, as regards the Kodanad case, to bring disrepute to his party. Only to support such a motive, the OPS camp has taken up this issue and they were the DMK’s B-team, he claimed.
The DMK regime’s ulterior motive was to blemish the reputation of the AIADMK and party general secretary K Palaniswami, which showed the ruling party’s political vendetta, he alleged.
The AIADMK would not be cowed down by such ’tricks’ of the DMK regime which was aimed at intimidating the party, he said.
At a time when a judgment was expected to be delivered by a court in the Kodanad case, the DMK assumed power in May 2021, Jayakunar, also a former Minister said.
The case went into probe-mode again following the instructions of Stalin, he said and added that the CB-CID handled the case eventually.
Jayakumar demanded to know why the matter was handed over to the CB-CID when the probe by a top western range police official was already over by 90 per cent.
The accused in the case belonged to Kerala and they have criminal cases pending against them there. He said lawyers belonging to ’DMK’ appeared on behalf of the accused.
In 2017, a security guard of the bungalow, Om Bahadur was murdered and another guard was severely assaulted by a gang.
Kanagaraj, a former car driver of Jayalalithaa, died in an alleged road accident days after the heist. He was a suspect in the case.
A young man, Dinesh Kumar, who worked as a computer operator at the Kodanad Estate ’died by suicide’ months after the crime.
Following the April 2017 crime, expelled AIADMK leader Vaithilingam said, ’in total, six lives (including Kanagaraj, a police sub-inspector and Dinesh) have been lost so far and all these are suspicious deaths.’ The police SI was attached to the Kodanad police station at the time of the occurrence of crime.
The wife and daughter of K V Sayan, a key accused in the case, died in an accident. ”These are suspicious deaths and mysterious accidents,” Vaithilingam said, adding though six years have gone by, the culprits have not yet been identified and punished.
Comments
0 comment