Chennai
Kodand estate in The Nilgiris was the favourite retreat of former AIADMK supremo late J Jayalalithaa, jointly owned by her and her close confidanteVK Sasikala.
The district police had filed petition seeking permission to ‘investigate the case further,’ sources said.
The investigators have already filed charge sheet and the case is in trial stage at a district court, but the police suddenly decided to go for further investigation ‘based on new evidence.’ The murder and robbery happened few months after the death of Jayalalithaa.
There are provisions under section 173 of CRPC to investigate further into a case, even after the charge sheet was filed in connection with the case, sources said.
The prime accused KV Sayan of Kerala was granted bail in the case by Madras High court last month. Though he was given bail by the jurisdiction court two months after his arrest in 2017, his bail was cancelled in the year 2019, after he gave a media interview alleging that then chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had a role in the crime.
Police had claimed that the robbery was planned by Kanagaraj, a former driver of Jayalalithaa and Sayan. Kanagaraj was killed in an accident in April 2017 while Sayan too met with an accident on the same day in Palakkad, Kerala in which his wife and child were killed. These accidents had fueled speculations that there was someone influential behind the crime.
The heist happened at the estate on the night of April 23, 2017. An armed gang trespassed into the estate and decamped with some valuables after killing one of the guards.
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