Kodanad heist & murder case: Police question kin of dead computer operator

Chennai, Dec 20

In a new turn to the infamous Kodanad estate murder and heist case, the CB- CID team of Tamil Nadu Police visited the residence of Dhinesh Kumar, computer operator of the estate office, who committed suicide on July 3, 2017.

A seven-member team of CB-CID officers questioned Dhinesh Kumar's parents and other relatives and friends. The police team visited the residence of Dinesh Kumar where he was found dead under suspicious circumstances.

The DMK had in its election manifesto had stated that it would conduct a reinvestigation into the Kodanad murder cum heist case if it was voted back to power.

Kodanad estate is jointly owned by former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Late J. Jayalalithaa and her close aide and former interim general secretary of AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala.

After the death of Jayalalitha on December 5, 2016 and the arrest of Sasikala in February, 2017 in a disproportionate asset case, there was a major heist in Kodanad estate on April 23 and 24, 2017 in which the guard of the estate Om Bahadur died.

Another watchman, Krishna Thapa was found grievously injured in an attack and he told the police that a group of 10 men had arrived at the estate and attacked them.

The first accused in the case was Kanakarajan, former driver of Jayalalithaa. In a twist of events, Kanakarajan died in a road accident when he was hit by a speeding truck on the Salem- Chennai highway five days after the Kodanad heist. On the same day, the second accused, Sayan, and his family met with an accident at Walayar in Palakkad district in which his wife and daughter died and Sayan escaped.

Dinesh Kumar, the computer operator of the Kodanad estate was found hanging in his house under mysterious circumstances on July 3, 2017.

The DMK government has constituted a special team of CB-CID sleuths of Tamil Nadu Police to conduct a re-investigation into the case.