Interpol help to be sought in solving Kodanad mystery

Replying to the demands for grants for his departments in the State Assembly, Stalin said that it was his bounden duty to inform the House about the developments in the investigations, in which 268 witnesses had been interrogated.

Eight mobile phones and four SIM cards used by the accused had been seized and sent to the Coimbatore Regional Forensic Science Laboratory, whose personnel had sent in an 8000 page investigative report.

Since some of the accused had received overseas calls even as the criminal incidents were unfolding in Kodanad Estate in the Nilgiris, the investigation needed to be carried out with the aid of the Interpol, Stalin said, adding that the probe should also look into the possibility of the involvement of more people.

The sprawling Kodanad Estate in the salubrious hills of Nilgiris, which once was the favorite getaway of former Chief Minister J Jayalalaithaa, came into the eye of a storm in 2017 when a murder of a security guards and a heist in the bungalow inside it were reported. The bungalow had several articles used by Jayalalithaa.

Everything about the incident was mysterious and in the subsequent days three people died of road accidents and another employee of the estate who was taking care of the CCTV network and the computers committed suicide.

While the investigations into the incidents by the earlier AIADMK government came under a cloud of suspicion, the DMK charged the government with hiding a lot of things and promised to unravel the mystery when it came to power.

It was in view of the promise given to the people that the Chief Minister made the brief statement on the progress of the investigations into the case. As he said the police were looking into the possible involvement of more people apart from those who had already come under the police radar.

The estate is reported to have been inherited by V K Sasikala, the erstwhile friend of Jayalalithaa, after the former Chief Minister’s death in December 2016.