Court reserves order on plea for cancelling bail of two accused in Kodanad case

A court here Saturday reserved orders on the Tamil Nadu government's plea for cancelling the bail of two key accused in the 2017 Kodanad estate break-in case even as one of them filed a petition seeking to make a confessional statement. After hearing arguments by counsels for the government and accused K V Sayan and K C Manoj, Nigiris District Judge P Vadamalai reserved the orders for February 8.

Earlier, complying with the judge's January 29 order, nine of the ten accused in the case appeared before the court. Judge Vadamalai ordered that all the accused should be present in the court on the next date of hearing.

Sayan then filed a petition seeking the permission of the court to record his confessional statement about the crime. The judge posted it to February 8. The government had moved the court for cancellation of bail to Sayan and Manoj, contending that they were hampering the investigation by their public statements.

It cited a video footage recently released by New Delhi-based journalist Mathew Samuel in which they had alleged involvement of Chief Minister K Palaniswami in the heist. Palaniswami rejected the charges and filed a defamation suit in the Madras High Court which had restrained Samuel and six others, including Sayan and Manoj, from making any statement linking Palaniswami to the Kodanad case.

The matter related to a robbery attempt on April 23, 2017 at the Kodanad estate, the hilly retreat home of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in the district, that left a security guard dead. A total of 10 people were arrested in the case and a chargesheet filed.

Later, Kanagaraj and Sayan's wife and daughter were killed in separate road accidents during the probe, even as another employee of the property was found dead, in a case of suspected suicide. Besides Sayan and Manoj, some other accused were granted bail by the court here while a few are under judicial remand.

The two were arrested on January 14 in connection with the video and were released on bail by a Chennai court, while the high court had stayed the FIR against them and four others, including Samuel. The FIR was filed under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

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