With a number of conspiracy theories regarding Late Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate robbery doing the rounds, including the latest one stating that, some AIADMK Ministers, were the master minds behind the break-in to get certain property documents, on which their signatures were forcibly taken when the party’s interim general secretary, Sasikala was in control of the Veda Nilayam in Poes Garden.

The Police may find it difficult to conduct an unbiased investigation, without political intervention. However, it is not clear if a gang entered the estate on its own will or other influential people were behind the crime. Sasikala who is currently serving her imprisonment in a Bengaluru Prison, is the only individual who can add some light on the things, that may be missing from the rooms broken into, revealed a senior police officer. Before the incident happened, the security guard was murdered on the night of April 23.     

The police officer said, “It will be ideal if an investigating team can get in touch with Sasikala, in connection with the investigation into the murder of a guard and the robbery at Jaya’s bungalow in Kodanad. Sasikala is only the person who will be able tell the police about the things missing from the Kodanad Estate.”

The Police officer who did not want to reveal his name said, it is doubtful if the Tamil Nadu probe team, could put forward such a suggestion. He concluded saying that, if the Central agencies are involved in the investigation, they could do it easily. The police team, currently who is investigating the case is not able to ascertain the things (cash, articles or documents) that are missing from the bungalow ad whether three suitcases were found open and contents missing from the crime scene. Only some wristwatches and crystal pieces were missing, the police claimed. The mystery has still deepened, since two of the suspects in the crime, one of them a former driver of Jayalalithaa, met with accident and the other one died on Friday night, in separate incidents on the same day.

According to the police, a 11-member gang headed by Jayalaithaa’s former driver, Kanagaraj, in three vehicles reached the estate on April 23, to loot the money stashed at the estate. The entry was gained by them after attacking two guards, of which one of them died, and later the gang members stole at least some watches and crystals. They entered into three rooms, and could find what they were looking for. All the other gang members, hailed from Kerala, except Kanagaraj. The gang split into three directions, after committing the crime. The driver, Kanagaraj, came to Chennai and later went back to his village in Edapadi, Salem. Later, on Friday night, he was killed after he was knocked down from a bike by a car, belonging to a techie working in Bengaluru. Hours after that, another suspect, Sayan, a native of Trisoor, Kerala was seriously injured and his wife and daughter were killed, when the car in which they were traveling crashed against a stationary truck in Kannady, Palakkad, Kerala on Saturday early morning.

Though initial report said that, Sayan’s wife and daughter had injuries on their neck indicating he could have killed the two and smashed his vehicle onto a truck fearing police action, The Police later said those injuries could be from impact of the accident also. Sayan was traveling from Coimbatore, to his native place, most probably because he was aware of the fact that police was after him. Sayan worked as a bakery manager, in Kerala. According to the Police, Sayan came in contact with Kanagaraj in Kodanad estate where he worked with one woodwork expert Sajevan, who had access to every inch of Kodanad bungalow of former late CM few years back. As an assistant of Sajevan, Sayan too had a good knowledge of lay-out of the bungalow. “Sayan and Kanagaraj used to spend free time together at the estate and became buddies. After the death of Jayalalithaa they believed that there could be huge stash of money in the bungalow and prepared a team to execute the loot,” a police officer revealed.

On Saturday, the Police arrested arrested 4 persons namely Santhosh Swamy (39), Sathisan (42), Deepu (32) and Udayakumar (47) from Thrisoor and are on the lookout for another five men. Another two identified as Jithin Rai and Jamshed were nabbed by the police on Sunday. Police are on the lookout for three others including Manoj and Kutty alias Jithin. Police believe that Manoj is a hawala operator from Thrisoor who arranged the team on the request from Sayan.  

SUPRAJA