COIMBATORE: A security guard at former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad Estate near Kothagiri was murdered, and another was injured by a gang in the early hours on Monday.
The culprits attempted to burgle the house, but failed when security personnel raised an alarm. Police officials have formed five teams to nab the gang and are keeping a watch on the State’s borders.
Police said that on Monday morning, at around 12.30 am, an eight-member gang attempted to enter the Kodanad Estate through its 10th gate, but was stopped by security guard Om Bhahadur (50). The gang assaulted him, bound his hands, legs and mouth with rope, and tied him upside down to a tree near the gate. He soon died. Police suspected suffocation as the cause of death.
On hearing the noise, Om Bhagadhur’s relative and another guard there, B Kishan Bahadur (37), who was sleeping in a lorry nearby, woke up and shouted for help. The robbers assaulted him, bound him and left him inside the lorry. He fainted. The gang then attempted to enter the bungalow by breaking a glass window. Hearing the noise, other security guards arrived and they alerted the police.
Initial investigations revealed that the burglars attempted to rob something specific inside the Kodanad Estate bungalow. “But, as there is nothing to rob, they escaped from the spot,” police said.
Local police recovered the body of Om Bhahadur and sent it to the Nilgiris Government Hospital for autopsy and the injured Kishan Bahadur was admitted to Nilgiris Government Hospital for treatment.
Eight private security personnel guard the 10 gates of the estate round-the-clock and since the distance between two gates in the sprawling estate is long, the other guards were unaware about the incident.
Sources in the Nilgiris police said they were unable to lift even fingerprints from the crime scene as the suspects may have used gloves and there was no CCTV camera to rely on for footage.