A special police team on Thursday interrogated V.K. Sasikala, former AIADMK leader and aide of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in the Kodanad estate dacoity-cum-murder case.
The estate in the Nilgiris district was once the summer retreat of Jayalalithaa. The property, spread over 900 acres, was named in the disproportionate assets case. While Sasikala was serving a prison term in Bengaluru in the case, armed men gained entry into the estate bungalow in April 2017 after murdering a security guard.
Five days after the incident, Kanagaraj, of Edappadi, who was cited as the first accused in the case, was killed in an accident on the Salem-Chennai Highway at Attur. The same day, Sayan, the accused number 2 who hailed from Thrissur in Kerala, also met with an accident near Palakkad, when his car rammed into a parked lorry. His wife and daughter were killed in the accident, but Sayan escaped with injuries.
A month later, an estate employee who was in charge of CCTV cameras and computers was found dead in mysterious circumstances. The police filed a charge sheet in September last year.
The investigating officer had issued summons to Ms. Sasikala after questioning several persons, including suspects and witnesses. On Thursday, a special team, comprising Inspector-General of Police (West) R. Sudhakar, Nilgiris Superintendent of Police Ashish Rawat, two Deputy Superintendents of Police and two inspectors , questioned Sasikala at her house on Habibullah Road at T. Nagar.
“Sasikala was questioned by officers whether she had any knowledge of the incident when she was in prison. Her replies were video-recorded,” said sources.
The questioning began at 11 a.m. and ended around 5.30 p.m. Sources said the procedure would continue on Friday.
