COIMBATORE: The Nilgiris District Sessions Court on Friday questioned the CB-CID Special Investigation Team (SIT) about the delay in investigating the Kodanad murder-cum-heist case that happened around nine years ago.
The DMK, which had promised a proper investigation and speedy trial after coming to power in 2021, formed five special teams led by West Zone IG to expedite the investigation.
Two more people Kanagaraj’s brother Dhanapal and his relative Ramesh were arrested. Further, the special team police interrogated 316 people again. Following this, the Kodanad case was transferred to the CB-CID. CB-CID SIT has been issuing summons in various stages to suspects in the case and conducting interrogations.
Meanwhile, the hearing was held on Friday. Prosecution counsel and CB-CID ADSP Murugavel appeared in person. Among suspects, Walayar Manoj appeared for the hearing. During the hearing, the newly appointed District Judge A Muraleetharan raised concern about the delay in investigation and questioned why it had not been concluded yet?
The prosecution counsel replied that a report on forensic data had been requested from the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat regarding telephone conversations between the suspects. The case hearing was then adjourned to April 24.
Sources said that to retrieve call details of more than 30 people who are on the radar of CB-CID, BSNL has reportedly sought a bill of `2.94 crore to restore outdated servers, where call detail records (CDR) were stored in magnetic tape formats.
BSNL officials from Tiruchy who worked for it, explained it to the court last year. According to CB-CID, there are a total of 10 magnetic tapes containing call details of 30 people, which need to be examined thoroughly.
It may be noted that the Kodanad murder-cum-heist case, which has been under trial in the District Sessions Court in Nilgiris since 2017, is now being heard. The Kodanad Estate bungalow owned by former CM J Jayalalithaa in Nilgiris district, was robbed by a gang on April 24, 2017, and the gang murdered the security guard Ombakathur.