A special team of the Tamil Nadu Police constituted for an investigation into the Kodanad murder and heist case has left for Nepal to trace and question Krishna Bahadur, a watchman who was present during the incident of the murder of his colleague Om Bahadur.
The incident of murder and heist at the Kodanad estate took place in the early hours of April 24, 2017. The team, which was constituted by the Nilgiris district police and comprises senior police officers, left for Nepal on Thursday.
While one security guard Om Bahadur was killed with his neck slit and his body hanging upside down from a tree, Krishna Bahadur was grievously injured. Krishna Bahadur had deposed before the police that they both were attacked by robbers at the estate bungalow on April 24, 2017.
After the interrogation of Krishna Bahadur, he was allowed to leave for his home country, Nepal and after that, he was not traceable, according to the police.
The Kodanad estate case had become a major issue with a slugfest between the AIADMK and the DMK. The DMK in the run-up to the 2021 Assembly elections had in its manifesto promised that if it comes back to power, the Kodanad murder and heist case would be reopened and further investigation conducted.
A trial court has directed the Nilgiris police to conduct a reinvestigation and to submit for hearing on October 1, 2021.
The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal for a stay order on further investigations moved by an AIADMK activist and a witness in the case Anubhav Ravi. The court said, “We cannot interfere in the case,” and also that the “Truth will come out”.
The first accused in the case K.P. Sayan and another accused Valayar Manoj had in a 16-minute video documentary film by journalist Mathew Samuel said that the robbery was conducted at the behest of the then Chief Minister K. Palaniswami.