AIADMK flays expelled Panneerselvam for agitation on Kodanad murder case Chennai

Both the leaders addressed the protest agitation as their supporters too held similar protests in other parts of Tamil Nadu.

Taking strong exception to the two joining hands, former state minister D Jayakumar said it was an irony that Panneerselvam, who had launched the Dharma Yudham protest to keep out the Sasikala family from the AIADMK has now forged an alliance with her nephew.

“He had even claimed suspicion in late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s demise. Now he has joined hands with Dhinakaran in an opportunist alliance. The behind-the-scenes alliance has now come out in the open under the pretext of the Kodanad murder case protest,” Jayakumar told reporters here.

He claimed that the agitation demanding the arrest of real culprits was only a “drama” as those accused in the case were already arrested during the AIADMK rule. “The case got delayed for a year due to the pandemic and there was a regime change when the verdict was about to be delivered,” he said.

After the DMK came to power it appointed an inquiry commission under a senior police official but subsequently allowed a subordinate police officer to enquire into the case, Jayakumar claimed.

“We have nothing to conceal, so nothing to be afraid of. Let a CBI probe be ordered in the case. Panneerselvam knows who owns the Kodanad estate. It was used only as a camp office by the former Chief Minister,” he said.

He further claimed that OPS (as Panneerselvam is known) was now “Out of Political Scene” and has no locus standi to talk about the case.

At the agitation, Panneerselvam demanded that the real culprits be exposed. “The case has been progressing at a snail’s pace. If there’s further delay, then there will be massive protests throughout Tamil Nadu,” he warned.

He sought to know the reason for the power outage on the night when the incident took place on April 24, 2017, resulting in the death of a security guard and leaving another injured; and asserted that the protest was an attempt to bring the issue to people’s attention.

Two months later another worker at the estate was found dead and while a probe on the former Chief Minister’s death was on, her former driver C Kanagaraj was killed in a road accident.

Dhinakaran said the DMK which assured to bring the culprits to book within three months has not made any progress in the last two years.