The special police team investigating the Kodanad dacoity-cum-murder case questioned former AIADMK MLA V.C. Arukutty here on Friday.
Inspector-General of Police (West Zone) R. Sudhakar said Mr. Arukutty was questioned on the Police Recruits School (PRS) campus. However, he declined to say why he was questioned.
Police sources said the former Kavundampalayam MLA was called to the PRS campus where the inquiry started around 11 a.m.
C. Kanagaraj, who served as a driver of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, had also worked for Mr. Arukutty. Kanagaraj was killed in an accident in Salem a few days after the dacoity-cum-murder of a security guard at the estate bungalow of Jayalalithaa at Kodanad in the Nilgiris in April 2017. He was a prime suspect in the case.
Following Kanagaraj’s death, the Attur police questioned Mr. Arukutty as the former was reportedly in contact with him.
Apart from the accused and the suspects, the special team had earlier questioned Vivek Jayaraman, nephew of V.K. Sasikala, the aide of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, and S. Natarajan, who was the manager of the estate bungalow when armed men gained entry into it after murdering the security guard.
Mr. Arukutty used to be a loyalist of O. Panneerselvam, but he switched his support to Edappadi K. Palaniswami in July 2017. A rebel voice in the party after he was denied nomination in the last Assembly election, Mr. Arukutty said recently that he was sidelined and called for the unification of the AIADMK and the AMMK under the leadership of Ms. Sasikala.
