One of the prime accused persons in the Kodanad dacoity-cum-murder case, K.V. Sayan, alleged that the CB-CID police team, conducting an inquiry into the case, was harassing him and his family.
The case came up for hearing before district and sessions court in Udhagamandalam on Friday, June 23, 2023. Advocates representing the accused alleged before the district sessions judge, A. Abdul Kadhar said that police personnel from the CB-CID investigating the case, were appearing at the house of Sayan unannounced, and were questioning him about the case, causing him mental agony. The judge told the police to formally summon the accused for inquiries relating to the case.
K. Vijayan, one of the advocates representing the accused, also asked the judge to invoke Section 310 of the Code for Criminal Procedure, in order to inspect the ‘scene of occurrence’ since it is has come to their knowledge that the very scene of occurrence where security guard Om Bahadur Thapa was killed and tied, was missing from the scene of occurrence detailed by the police.
However, the judge said that the step could be considered at a later time during the trial, said Mr. Vijayan. The judge also asked the prosecution to file an interim report on the status of the investigation, which the prosecution promised to do so during the next hearing.
Four of the ten accused in the case – K.V. Sayan, ‘Walayar’ Manoj, Zamsheer Ali and Jithin Joy appeared before the judge on Friday. The next hearing in the case has been posted for July 28.
The accused are alleged to have been involved in the break-in at the estate and bungalow of former chief minister, Jayalalithaa in April 2017 and escaped with valuables from the premises. They are also said to have killed a security guard, Om Bahadur Thapa during the break-in.
