Chennai:  On the midnight of 23 April 2017, nearly five months after Tamil Nadu former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s death, her summer retreat, the Kodanad estate at Nilgiris’ Kothagiri, became the centre of national attention when 11 of a gang broke into the nearly 900-acre property.

The break-in left a guard dead and another injured. In the next few days, three more people linked to the case died. The victims included the main suspect and the family members of the second suspect.

On Thursday, the Madras HC, in a verdict in a defamation case, ordered the main suspect’s brother to pay over Rs one crore in compensation to EPS for statements connecting the AIADMK chief with the break-in.

The HC verdict comes as a respite for the opposition leader of the Tamil Nadu assembly amid the ongoing Crime Branch, Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) probe into the 2017 case.

On Thursday, the court also allowed EPS permission to apply to remove from social media all the defamatory statements against him made by the main suspect’s brother, Dhanapal, in the Kodanad case.

Meanwhile, Dhanapal has to pay Rs 1,10,00,000 for his statements against EPS in different interviews.

Moreover, Justice Teekaa Raman J. issued a permanent injunction, restraining Dhanapal and anyone associated with him from making similar statements through interviews or using any other media.

“It is a sorry state of affairs that in the age of social media, desecration of the reputation of public figures has become child’s play. Anyone can open a social media account and post messages on the account. Thousands of likes and dislikes are received, however in the process, the reputation of the man, who is targeted, becomes, sadly, mud (sic),” the court said in its order.

The verdict pertains to the 2023 defamation suit filed by EPS against Dhanapal’s accusations, which connected him with the Kodanad case.

In his plea to the High Court, EPS alleged that Dhanapal made multiple statements to different media connecting him with the case in an attempt to tarnish his image in the public and destabilise AIADMK, especially in the run-up to the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

Dhanapal is the brother of Kanagaraj, Jayalalithaa’s driver and the main suspect in the case, who died in a road accident in 2017, days after the break-in.

In interviews with different channels, Dhanapal has alleged that EPS and other AIADMK leaders “brainwashed” Kanakaraj to execute the heist, promising a “good life and financial support”.

Dhanapal has said they promised Kanagaraj Rs 25 crore but did not hand it over after the assignment. He has termed Kanagaraj’s accident as premeditated.

In 2019, an investigative documentary by former Tehelka journalist Samuel Mathew, who interviewed the two accused involved in the case, said that EPS was involved and staged the heist to retrieve some documents from the estate—a claim EPS has since dismissed.

The court observed that Dhanapal’s statements to different media were contrasting and that it was evident that he intended to bring EPS disrepute and tarnish his image.

“The damages that the plaintiff has suffered as a result of the tweets/chats of the defendant is apparent but that is one of the unavoidable pitfalls of access to social media platforms and how they work by those who abuse their facility, as the defendant has in the present case to do so (sic),” the judge observed.

EPS has not responded to calls or messages in this regard.

Also read: Vijay plans padayatra across Tamil Nadu in early 2025 as party TVK lays groundwork for poll debut

Drama after midnight heist

The events surrounding the heist were more dramatic than the heist itself. After entering the property, the gang attacked guard Krishna Thapa and stole his phone. Later, they attacked a watchman and tied a dhoti around the neck of Om Bahadur, who was guarding Gate 10, leading to his death.

Within days, the probe pointed towards the involvement of Kanagaraj, a former driver at the estate. A native of Salem district’s Edappadi, where EPS was born, Kanagaraj, it was said, plotted the heist with his friend K.V. Sayan, a Coimbatore resident heading the gang involved in the break-in.

The other accused in the case were all from neighbouring Kerala.

According to the chargesheet filed by the police in September 2017, Kanagaraj, who knew about the bungalow, believed that Rs 200 crore was stored inside, prompting him to tie up with Sayan. The gang, however, could not find any money and only got ten wristwatches and a crystal rhinoceros doll worth Rs 42,000, the chargesheet said.

Amid the manhunt for the accused, Sayan and Kanagaraj got into separate accidents. Kanagaraj died on the spot in an accident on the Salem-Chennai national highway on 28 April 2017. Sayan met with an accident near Palakkad in Kerala while travelling with his family. Sayan managed to survive but lost his wife and five-year-old daughter.  Two months after the break-in, a 24-year-old staff at the computer section of the estate died by suicide.

The trial of the case is still underway at the Niligiri District cum Chief Judicial Magistrate Court.

The investigation, completed when the AIADMK government was in power, has raised many suspicions.

The deposition from the investigation officer, Balasundaram, revealed that photos and videos were not taken, and an inventory of the valuables in the estate was not made. The police also failed to probe the accidents involving the accused while the sole eyewitness, Thapa, was allowed to return to his hometown in Nepal. The FIR did not even have his signature, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.

“The police purposefully made many mistakes during the probe. They had to investigate the case as it happened on Jayalalithaa’s property,” a lawyer representing the accused told ThePrint. He said the prosecution dispensed 62 witnesses without examination.

In 2019, EPS filed a defamation case against Samuel and the two accused, Sayan and Manoj, featured in his 2019 documentary. The case is still pending before the High Court.

In the run-up to the 2021 assembly polls, M.K. Stalin promised a fair probe into the case. Months after the DMK came to power, the Madras High Court allowed the state police to start investigations. In 2022, the case was transferred to the CB-CID to expedite the probe, which is still underway.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

Also read: DMK-governor spat turns into ‘Dravidian’ vs ‘Tamil’ row. What’s debate over state anthem