Tamil Nadu: Opposition walks out of Assembly over govt’s decision to probe Kodanad estate case further

In April 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate bungalow, former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s retreat home in the hilly district of Nilgiris, was found dead. Stalin said the government is fulfilling the party's promise by investigating the robbery and murder case.

The AIADMK MLAs sat outside the assembly hall and raised slogans against the DMK government, accusing it of filing 'false cases' against former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. (Express Photo)

The Tamil Nadu government’s decision to further probe the 2017 Kodanad estate robbery and murder case has irked the opposition, which accused the DMK of planting false cases and walked out of the legislative assembly in Chennai on Wednesday. AIADMK’s coordinator and deputy floor leader O Panneerselvam said the party would boycott the assembly session for two days (Wednesday and Thursday).

Speaking at the assembly on Wednesday, Stalin said the government is fulfilling the promise the party had made during its election campaign. He said the murder and the subsequent deaths had raised suspicion among the public and they would find the real culprits and bring them before the law. “There is no political motive in this. The investigation is being carried out only after seeking approval from the court. There is no political interference or vendetta here. Action would be taken against real culprits, there is no need for anyone to fear or panic,” he said.

In April 2017, the security guard of the Kodanad estate bungalow, former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s retreat home in the hilly district of Nilgiris, was found dead. Two months later, another employee at the estate was found dead in a suspected case of suicide. As the probe was going on, Jayalalithaa’s former driver C Kanagaraj and prime suspect KV Sayan’s wife and daughter were killed in separate road accidents. Sayan, who secured bail last month, was summoned by the police on Tuesday for further investigation.

During the budget debate session, the AIADMK MLAs raised slogans against the government and walked out of the assembly followed by allies BJP, PMK. The AIADMK MLAs sat outside the assembly hall and raised slogans against the DMK government.

WATCH | #AIADMK cadres protest outside the #TamilNadu Assembly and urge the government not to file ‘false cases’ against party co-coordinator and former Chief Minister @EPSTamilNadu.

Follow live updates on our Daily Live Bloghttps://t.co/agT5hGiMhK pic.twitter.com/a8E5EhEcAh

— Express Chennai (@ie_chennai) August 18, 2021

“I came to know through the media that the DMK government had sent a summons to the accused Sayan, made him appear before the police, and received a secret statement. I came to know that in the statement my name as well other functionaries have been included. This is condemnable. Our government had already conducted the probe, enquired all prime witnesses and the case is about to be closed. The DMK government is trying to come up with this case for political mileage, they are trying to threaten the AIADMK which will never happen,” opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami said.

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