Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad Estate: The Story So Far Behind Fresh Probe on Sasikala

The Kodanad estate was once the favourite holiday home of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

After her victory in the 2011 elections, Kodanad estate became the de facto summer office of Jayalalithaa.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Kodanad murder and heist case that shook the political foundations of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu is back in focus.

Ousted AIADMK chief VK Sasikala was questioned by a special team of the Tamil Nadu police on 21 and 22 April over the sensational 2017 murders and robbery at the estate bungalow.

The Kodanad estate located near Kotagiri in Tamil Nadu's Nilgiris is surrounded by hills and tea plantations, and was once the favourite holiday home of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Now, it is known for a heist and murders that took place in April 2017.

Here's all you need to know about the Kodanad controversy:

Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Camp Office

Jayalalithaa, in her first stint as chief minister, bought the 906 acres in 1994 from one Peter Jones. Later, he alleged in several interviews that he was forced to accept a low price of Rs 7.6 crore. The bungalow has a VIP hall, conference hall which can accommodate 100 persons at a time, common dining hall, and all the other facilities that one can find in the chief minister’s office at St George Fort, Chennai. The estate has a 10-acre lake with a luxury boat, 10-acre floriculture stretch and a mini hospital.

After her win in the 2011 elections, Kodanad estate became the de facto summer office of Jayalalithaa. There was even an oral order that the letters sent to Kodanad must be addressed to ‘Tamil Nadu chief minister’s camp office.'

Until Jayalalithaa’s demise, the estate had over 640 police deployed personnel and numerous CCTV cameras. After her death, all the guards were withdrawn and some of the cameras were removed.

Mysterious String of Murders

A total of eleven people were arrested in connection with a burglary, which occurred on 23 April 2017, at the Kodanad estate.

The estate’s security guard Om Bahadur was killed and another guard Kishan Bahadur was severely injured when the bungalow was looted.

Preliminary investigations revealed that watches, a crystal doll, gold and diamond jewels, and three suitcases with documents related to Jayalalithaa’s assets were decamped.

The police claimed that the break-in couldn’t have been attempted without the help of estate insiders. There was a power cut on that particular day and the CCTV cameras didn’t work.

Of the 11 accused who were arrested in connection with the heist, Sayan and Kanagaraj, suspiciously met with accidents that happened just days apart.

First, Kanagaraj, a driver at Jayalalithaa's residence in Chennai, was allegedly killed in a mishap in Salem. The following day, Sayan allegedly met with a road accident in which he lost his wife and daughter. After this, a CCTV operator at the Kodanad estate also allegedly died by suicide for unknown reasons in July 2017.

When the police probed the estate manager Natarajan, it came to be known that similar break-ins were attempted earlier, too, sources told The Quint.

Meanwhile, the locals believe that the murders were acts of vengeance by the spirit of Jayalalithaa.

Lapses in Investigation

During the trial, over the past three years, it was revealed that there were glaring lapses in how the case was investigated.

A deposition by Balasundaram, the investigation officer and the then inspector of Kotagiri police station revealed that photos and videos of the crime scene were not taken as evidence, an inventory of the valuables at the estate was not done, and the police officials even failed to probe the accidents that the accused had allegedly met with.

Further, the sole eye-witness in the case – security guard Krishna Thapa – was allowed to return to Nepal after interrogation. Reportedly, the police now have no idea about his current whereabouts. The court had also questioned why there was no investigation into the power outage that happened on the day of the heist.

Whose is the Estate, Anyway?

When a disproportionate assets case got filed implicating Jayalalithaa in 1996, she said that she wasn't connected to the estate. It was owned by her friend Sasikala and others, she claimed.

However, in the year 2000, she became a shareholder of the estate.

“When I joined, my capital was Rs 1.8 lakh. This has been accepted by the income tax department. At that time, the estate had losses of Rs 6.6 lakh. It was only from 2004 that the estate started to earn moderate profit. In the last five years, I haven’t taken even one rupee,” she said in a statement in June 2007.

She discarded her shares in April 2006, citing her busy election schedule. In June that year, she reacquired the shares.

How Former TN CM Came Under the Scanner

In April 2021, three of the accused in the case submitted a revision petition in the Nilgiris Sessions Court asking the judge to bring out the “real culprit.” They named Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), VK Sasikala, her nephew VN Sudhakaran, the then Nilgiris collector, the then district police chief, and two former staff members of the Kodanad estate.

It is to be noted that Palaniswami was the chief minister when the heist took place in 2017.

When the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam came into power in Tamil Nadu in 2021, he alleged that the new government politicised the issue and tried to frame him.

Chief Minister MK Stalin explained, "Investigation into the Kodanadu dacoity and murder is a poll promise. We are doing this with the court's permission. There need not be any fear if one is not guilty."

It is important to note that some of the accused in the case are linked to Salem, from where Palaniswami hails.

Sasikala’s 'Involvement'

Sasikala is one of the owners of the private estate, and according to police sources, she will be questioned in connection with the fresh probe into the case.

A team of officials under R Sudhakar, IG-West Zone, held enquiries with Sasikala at her residence in Chennai’s T Nagar on 21 and 22 April and she assured full cooperation in the investigation, police sources said.

She was quizzed about her visits to the property. She was asked if she had interacted with any of the men who had died under mysterious circumstances. She was also asked about the documents that were reportedly stolen from the bungalow, sources said.

She described the 2017 incident as very unfortunate, and wanted stringent punishment against those involved, the sources added.

A senior leader in the DMK told The Quint that the Kodanad incident only reinforced the prevailing anti-Sasikala sentiment, and is also not working well for Palaniswami. "Sasikala could never gain the kind of love Jayalalithaa got from people. Now this controversy is painting her in a bad light and portraying AIADMK as a corrupt party," he added.