Kodanad heist-cum-murder case: 60 SIM cards, 19 cell phone towers' records sent to Gujarat laboratory

Jan 05, 2024

Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 6 : In the Kodanad heist-cum-murder case, 19 cell phone towers and 60 SIM card records have been sent to the Gujarat laboratory through the court, and the top officials have gone to Gujarat to get the report, and once the report is received, the next stage of the investigation will be expanded based on it, said the public prosecutor Shahjahan.
The Kodanad heist-cum-murder case case came up for hearing in Utagai District Sessions Court of Nilgiri District.
The Kodanad tea estate of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was robbed in 2017 and a security guard Om Bahadur was found dead while his colleague Krishna Bahadur was wounded.

In connection with this case, the public prosecutors Shahjahan, Kanagaraj, Crime Branch-CID police led by ADSP Murugavel, Belisar and the alleged criminals in this case, Sayan, Valaiyar Manoj and Udayakumar appeared in person.
In this case, the government informed the judge that the next stage of investigation will be started if the investigation reports on the recovery of cell phone towers and SIM cards are available, and the judge who heard the case adjourned the case to February 9th.
Speaking to the media following this, the public prosecutor Shahjahan Khan said that since the public prosecution had to read the report collected from the 8 cell phone conversations of Bijin Kutty, Deepu and Jamsir Ali, who were included as criminals in the Kodanad case, and investigate more people, the recovered samples sent to the Coimbatore laboratory by the public prosecution were sent to the Coimbatore laboratory in connection with the case. If the inspection report is submitted, further investigation will be conducted.
In September 2022, the Kodanad heist-cum-murder case has been transferred to the Crime Branch-CID to expedite the case.
The Kodanad estate, which is spread across 906 acres, belonged to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her aide VK Sasikala. The murder-robbery incident took place in 2017. In the incident, one of the security guards of the estate was murdered, and 10 watches and a crystal rhino worth Rs 42,000 were robbed.
Kanagaraj, the main accused in the case, died in a car accident. Ten people, including Chayan and Valaiyar Manoj, who were allegedly involved in this murder-robbery case, were arrested and later released on bail.
This case has been going on for the last 6 years in the Utagai District Court. The CBCID police are currently investigating the case.