Kodanad case: Court gives govt four weeks time to submit status report

Udhagamandalam: The District Sessions Court here on Thursday posted the hearing of the Kodanad heist and murder case for October 1, giving four weeks' time for the prosecution to submit a status report after inquiry with more witnesses.Though police was expected to submit the report on August 27, after interrogating key accused Sayan and the brother of the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's car driver, who died in a car accident, the case was adjourned for today as a case was pending in the Madras High Court.

Since the lawyers representing the government sought time to submit the status report after interrogating a few more persons reportedly involved in the case, including the Kodanad estate manager, the Judge C Sanjai Baba allowed time and posted the hearing to October 1.

Sayan and another accused Walayar Majoj were produced before the court amid police protection, particularly the former, who had sought protection claiming that he was receiving threat calls.

Being a sensational case, a large number of media persons from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka and locals assembled on the court premises and officials had to ask them to follow Covid-19 protocols.

Om Bahadur, the watchman of Kodanad Estate, belonging to the late chief minister, was found hanging dead on a tree with his throat slit and another watchman lying with serious injuries. One of the rooms of the guest house inside was found broken open on the night of April 24 in 2017 and police had registered a burglary and murder case.

Earlier on August 27, the court had adjourned the case to September 2 after the AIADMK lawyers cited a case in the High Court and argued that the matter cannot be taken up by the lower court.