Threat to withdraw case: Kodanad accused Kanagaraj’s brother held

COIMBATORE: The Salem police on Tuesday night arrested the brother of Kodanad heist-cum-murder case accused C Kanagaraj for threatening his wife to withdraw a complaint.

Kanagaraj, the car driver of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa died mysteriously in a road accident near Attur on April 24, 2017 on the Salem-Ulundurpet Highway.

A special team of police arrested his brother C Dhanabal on charges of attempting to destroy evidence and influence the witnesses in the accident case. Before his arrest, he raised foul play in the death of his brother.

Also, fresh investigations commenced after Kanagaraj’s wife Kalaivani (28), too lodged a complaint alleging suspicion in the death of her husband. She was residing with her children at KK Nagar in Chennai.

Recently, Palanivel (44), the elder brother of Kanagaraj asked Kalaivani to come to Salem to sell a piece of land owned by her husband in Panikkanur village.

As she arrived on June 3, Palanivel took her to the house of one Govindaraj in Panikkanur to hold talks on the sale of land. Suddenly, he began to threaten Kalaivani accusing her to be the reason behind the arrest of his brother Dhanabal. He also issued death threats to her.

Following this, Kalaivani lodged a complaint against him at Jalakandapuram police station. Police arrested Palanivel on various charges, including Women’s Harassment Act and further inquiries are on.

Meanwhile, special teams under West Zone IG R Sudhakar quizzed Kannan, another car driver of former CM Jayalalithaa for the second consecutive day in Coimbatore.