Sasikala’s nephew questioned in Kodanad case

A break-in-cum-murder was reported at the Kodanad Estate, owned by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, days after her death

Vivek Jayaraman, a nephew of ousted AIADMK interim General Secretary VK Sasikala, was on Wednesday questioned by the Nilgiris District Police in connection with a break-in-cum-murder at the Kodanad Estate owned by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Jayaraman, who manages Jaya TV, owned by the Sasikala family, was questioned by a special team that is reinvestigating the case in Coimbatore.

Sources said that Jayaraman, who was raised by Jayalalithaa at her Poes Garden residence after his father died while working at a property owned by her in Hyderabad, was questioned in connection with the case for about three hours.

The Nilgiris police launched a reinvestigation into the case after the DMK came to power in May. In October, the police arrested the brother and cousin of Kanagaraj, the late driver of Jayalalithaa and the alleged main accused in the case.

Kanagaraj, who was one of the personal drivers of late Jayalalithaa, died in an accident days after he and an armed gang broke into the palatial bungalow of the former chief minister in Kodanad in the Nilgiris, which had also resulted in the murder of a security guard.

Also Read — Niece gets keys to Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden bungalow

The case came to spotlight when the then Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s name cropped up during the investigation. Sources said that Dhanapal and Ramesh were picked up by the Sholurmattam police, which is investigating the case.

Kodanad was the summer retreat of Jayalalithaa since she and her long-time aide VK Sasikala bought a sprawling bungalow in Kothagiri in the early 1990s. The former chief minister would visit the bungalow often when her party, AIADMK, was occupying the Opposition benches in the Assembly.

In April 2017, five months after Jayalalithaa’s death, the bungalow was in the news yet again. A group of men, allegedly led by Jayalalithaa’s driver Kanagaraj, entered the premises forcibly after killing a security guard and grievously injuring another in an incident of robbery.

The break-in sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu as Jayalalithaa’s favourite bungalow was attacked under the AIADMK rule. The incidents that followed — Kanagaraj and his wife's death and the death daughter of one of the prime accused Sayan in separate road accidents and suspected suicide of staff of the estate — deepened the mystery.

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