A special team of police is interrogating V.K. Sasikala, former AIADMK leader and aide of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in connection with the Kodanad estate dacoity-cum-murder case.
The estate in the Nilgiris district was once the summer retreat of Jayalalithaa. The property, spread over 900 acres, was named in the disproportionate assets case.
While Sasikala was serving prison term in Bengaluru in the case, armed men gained entry into the estate bungalow at Kodanad in April 2017 after murdering a security guard.
Five days after the incident, Kanagaraj, who was cited as the first accused in the case, was killed in an accident on the Salem-Chennai highway in Attur. Kanagaraj reportedly belongs to Edappadi. On the same day, Sayan, accused number 2 who hailed from Thrissur in Kerala, also met with an accident near Palakkad, when his car rammed a parked lorry. His wife and daughter were killed in the accident but Sayan escaped with injuries.
A month later, an estate employee who was in charge of CCTV cameras and computers was found dead under mysterious circumstances. The police filed a charge sheet in September last year.
The investigating officer had issued summons to Ms. Sasikala after questioning several persons, including suspects and witnesses. On Thursday, a special team comprising Inspector General of Police (West) R. Sudhakar, the Nilgiris Superintendent of Police Ashish Rawat, two Deputy Superintendents of Police, two inspectors and a videographer questioned Sasikala at her house in Habibullah Road in T. Nagar.
"Sasikala is being questioned by officers on whether she had any knowledge of the incident when she was in prison. Her replies were video recorded," said an officer.
