Former chief minister's driver C Kanagaraj, prime accused in the murder of Om Bahadur, a security guard at the Kodanad estate owned by former Tamil Nadu chief minister late J Jayalalithaa, died in a road accident on the Salem-Ullundurpet highway in Attur in April 2017. , when he was riding a two wheeler. The prosecution said that when Kanagaraj was turning right to go towards the service lane, a speeding car going towards Perambalur hit his two-wheeler and he was thrown on the road.
He was taken to the Government Hospital in Attur but doctors declared him brought dead. His family members, including Kanagaraj's brother Dhanpal, have been demanding a detailed inquiry into his death, stating that he was murdered. Kodanad Estate is a 906-acre area located in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu and owned by Late J Jayalalithaa and her associate VK Sasikala. On April 24, 2017, four months after Jayalalithaa's death, and two months after Sasikala's arrest, thieves ransacked the property, and Om Bahadur, a security guard posted at Gate No. 10, was killed.
Kanagaraj was the prime accused in the case and after his death in an accident five days after the murder in Kodnad, another accused in the case, Sion, also met with an accident in Kerala's Palakkad in which his wife and daughter were killed. However, Sion survived the injury. The estate's computer operator, Dinesh Kumar, was also found dead at his residence on July 3. Former Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami was under investigation after Sayan alleged that the dacoity was committed at the behest of the AIADMK leader. The DMK had made Kodanad estate theft and murder a major election issue during the 2021 assembly elections and promised to re-investigate the matter.
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