NEW DELHI/COIMBATORE: In yet another blow to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Tamil Nadu police to further investigate the 2017 Kodanad estate heist and murder case, by refusing to entertain a plea seeking a stay on further probe.
During the brief hearing, the court said, “We cannot interfere and ultimately, the truth has to come out.”
The plea, which was filed by AIADMK member and prosecution witness Anubhav Ravi, stated he was being threatened to submit a favourable witness statement and also asked why there was a need for further investigation as a chargesheet in the case had already been submitted and he had already been examined.
Meanwhile, a team from Nilgiris police left for Kerala to issue summons to suspects in the case even as senior officers including IG (west zone) R Sudhakar, DIG Muthusamy and SP Ashish Rawat reviewed the progress in investigation and the next course of action.
Ten suspects except Jayalalithaa’s former driver Kanagaraj, who died in a road accident, had been arrested and released on bail. Most of them are believed to be residing in Kerala, senior police officers said but refused to divulge the number.
The scope of investigation has been widened and the special investigation team is likely to investigate the accident at Kannadi in Palakkad on 29 April 2017 involving prime suspect KV Sayan. His wife and child died, while he escaped with injuries.
On Monday night, the district collector J Innocent Divya ordered that prior permission was must to operate drones in the district. The announcement comes after a complaint was lodged by the Kodanad estate management that a drone flew over the premises 10 days ago.