Sasikala to be questioned in Jayalalithaa's Kodanad bungalow break-in case

The fresh investigation in the four-year-old case involving a break-in at former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad Estate in the picturesque Nilgiris district is back on the centerstage yet again with the police set to question V K Sasikala, the ousted AIADMK interim general secretary, here on Thursday.

A team of investigators led by R Sudhakar, Inspector General of Police, West Zone, will question Sasikala at her residence in upscale T. Nagar on Thursday. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nilgiris police is probing the case involving the break-in and murder of the estate’s guard.

Sasikala’s nephew Vivek Jayaraman and former AIADMK MLA V C Arukutty were examined by the Nilgiris police in the past in the case. Sources in the Sasikala camp told DH that the long-time aide of Jayalalithaa has received a summon. “She will be questioned at the T. Nagar residence at 10.30 am,” a source said.

Sasikala’s questioning in the case is significant because she used to manage the estate when Jayalalithaa was alive. “She is the only person who knows what was kept in the Kodanad Bungalow apart from Amma (Jayalalithaa). Her questioning is very important in finding the truth in the case,” an AIADMK leader said on the condition of anonymity.

After the break-in, the AIADMK government had said that robbery was the motive behind burglars striking the bungalow and that a few watches and other articles that were stolen were recovered. However, the DMK, which suspects a larger conspiracy, reopened the 2017 case last year by re-examining the key accused, Sayan.

Kodanad was the summer retreat of Jayalalithaa since she and her long-time aide V K Sasikala bought the 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.

Sayan and nine others are accused of breaking into the sprawling mansion owned by Jayalalithaa in 2017, months after her death, and killing a guard who was posted there. Police had then alleged that C Kanagaraj, Jayalalithaa’s former driver, and Sayan plotted the crime.

However, Kanagaraj, Sayan’s wife and their daughter died in separate road accidents, raising doubts. An “independent investigation” conducted by journalist Mathew Samuel alleged that Palaniswami was behind the break-in, but the former Chief Minister had steered clear of the issue, saying vested interests were trying to bring “disrepute” to him and Jayalalithaa.

Nestled amidst lush tea gardens, the luxurious estate with a magnificent white bungalow and a private lake in Kothagiri was Jayalalithaa’s favourite summer retreat for over two decades.

The sprawling estate is now under the control of the Income Tax Department which has attached the property under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act. The property was jointly owned by Jayalalithaa, her long-time aide V K Sasikala and a few of her relatives.

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