The Kodanad murder case has occupied the Tamil Nadu assembly session on Wednesday as the latest development in the case had stirred a fresh tussle between Chief Minister MK Stalin and Opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami as the latter had alleged that the MK Stalin administration is attempting to trap him in the case. The ADMK MLAs had boycotted the assembly session and staged protests outside the assembly venue, castigating the DMK regime for filing false cases against the party leaders. 

The protests from the ADMK leaders had come a day after the police officers in Udhagamandalam district had questioned the prime suspect in the murder case, Sayan for three hours. Expediting the probe and trial of the murder case was one of the poll promises of the DMK in the recently-held Tamil Nadu assembly polls and while addressing the assembly session following the boycott of the ADMK members, Chief Minister MK Stalin has put out a scathing reply to the opposition and said that the opposition has been asking the government about poll promises and affirmed that the probe into the Kodanad murder case is one of ADMK's poll promises and that the government is doing what it has promised. 

According to ANI, the Chief Minister said, "Opposition was alleging political interference in the case. I state in House that this action (questioning Sayan) has been done as per the court's direction. There is no political interference or vendetta. The same opposition has been asking us about poll promises. It is one of our poll promises." MK Stalin has further that there are more (promises) to come and his scathing reply has shocked Edappadi Palaniswami and the ADMK leaders amid the ongoing tussle and intra-party leadership crisis. 

A brief about the Kodanad robbery and murder case: 

Kodanad is a hilly village located in the Udhagamandalam district in Tamil Nadu and besides being known for its clement weather, Kodanad is also known for a palatial residence that belonged to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. The premise was large with elite features and Jayalalithaa used to visit her mansion once a year for retreat despite being in office. She would spend days here taking a break from a bustling lifestyle and politics. In April 2017, months after Jayalalithaa's demise, Tamil Nadu was shocked to witness a robbery attempt in Jayalalithaa's Kodanad estate.

During the attempt, one of the security personnel of the estate was murdered by the robbers. The murder had happened when Edappadi Palaniswami was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu while Jayalalithaa's close aide VK Sasikala was in incarceration serving her four-year prison sentence in Bangalore. The Tamil Nadu police had initiated the probe into the murder and heist attempt and the preliminary investigation has revealed that the robbery was planned by Jayalalithaa's former car driver Kanagaraj. It was also reported that several valuables were looted from the bungalow. 

When Kanagaraj was brought under investigation for his role in heist and murder, he was killed in a road accident near Salem, days after the incident had happened. Later in June 2017, the police had arrested Sayan, a native of Kerala, in connection to the case and he had then become a prime suspect and before getting arrested, Sayan had also met with an accident in which his wife and child were killed near Palakkad, Kerala. Sayan was lodged in prison for further investigation and after two months, the jurisdictional magistrate court had granted him bail. 

Two years later, the Kodanad murder case had taken a political turn. In January 2019, Sayan gave a video interview to a Delhi-based journalist Mathew Samuel in which he alleged that the robbery was committed upon instruction from the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and others. Sayan has invited trouble through his statement as his bail was cancelled by the magistrate court for allegedly giving false interviews to the media. He was lodged in jail in March 2019 for breaching the bail condition and he was in prison till the first week of July this year. 

Earlier last month, the Madras High Court had granted bail for Sayan, the prime accused in the Kodanad murder case. High Court Judge Justice R Subramanian had granted the relief to Sayan and ordered him to stay in Udhagamandalam till the trial court completes the trial and pronounces its order in the case as the murder case is still under trial at a Sessions Court in Udhagamandalam. The high court had also ordered Sayan to appear before the trial court once a week besides attending the regular hearing of the murder case.

According to reports, Sayan has on Tuesday appeared before the police for further investigation. The police had begun their investigation even as their petition before the trial court seeking permission for further investigation into the matter is pending. On Tuesday, Sayan has appeared before senior police officers in Udhagamandalam including district Superintendent of Police Ashish Rawat, Coonoor DSP D Suresh, and investigating officer Kotagiri Inspector Velmurugan and the police had questioned Sayan for three hours. 

This sudden questioning of the police on the prime suspect of the case who alleged Edappadi Palaniswami's role in the murder case had stirred furious debate between the ADMK and DMK. On Wednesday, when the assembly session resumed at the Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai, ADMK joint coordinator and opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami had voiced against the DMK government for taking the case when it is in the court hearing. Condemning the ruling government after it has renewed the probe, Edappadi Palaniswami-led ADMK MLAs had disrupted the assembly proceedings to protest against the move. Speaking to the reporters outside the assembly, Palaniswami said that the current DMK government is trying to trap him in the proceedings of the Kodanad robbery and murder case.