Why tranquil Kodanad is giving EPS sleepless nights

It is not hard to imagine what Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) must be going through. The former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, who is also the co-coordinator of the AIADMK, is said to be having sleepless nights because of the mounting pressure from the developments in the Kodanad murder-cum-heist case.

At a sessions court hearing in Nilgiris district held on September 2, the judges were expected to hear three witnesses — forensic officer Rajagopalan, a TANGEDCO engineer, and estate manager Natarajan. But they did not appear since they had not received the summons. However, two accused — KV Sayan and Walayar Manoj — were present that day.

Widening investigation

On the same day, the Nilgiris police formed a special team following the direction given by the Madras High Court a week earlier. The district police asked the sessions court to grant it four weeks to further probe into the case and file a report. The judge granted permission for the same.

Four more special task forces have been formed. The police have quizzed the wife of Kanagaraj, one of the accused who died in an accident in Salem, and his relative Dinesh. The teams plan to question all the accused involved in the case. However, other than Sayan and Walayar Manoj, the accused are all in Kerala.

Also read: Special team set up to probe new details in Kodanad heist-cum-murder case

The present dispensation started a probe in this matter following alleged secret information provided by Sayan. Ravi aka Anubhav Ravi, who is said to be a proxy of EPS, filed a petition to stop the probe. Meanwhile, three accused in the case, namely Deepu, Santhosh Samy and Satheeshan, have filed a plea in the Madras High Court seeking to direct the police to investigate EPS, Sasikala and others. The court has accepted it and asked the police to file a counter affidavit by September 27.

It is to be noted that Sayan could have made a voluntary deposition to the police as a way of taking ‘revenge’ against EPS, since he lost his wife and child in the accident and was prevented from getting bail.

How EPS is losing his support base

EPS, who was handpicked by Sasikala as CM in 2017, had commanded huge support from the party and he started to side-line O Panneerselvam (OPS), former Chief Minister. The latter was unable to earn support from fellow leaders and the party base, so he was pushed to announce in October 2020  that EPS would be the CM candidate for the state assembly election held in April 2021.

Following the release of Sasikala from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara prison this January, and the rousing reception she was given on her return to Chennai after she recovered from COVID in February, were seen to send a message that EPS could be in for tough times. A full-page advertorial by OPS portraying him as the loyal Bharatha of the Ramayana added salt to the injury.

However, EPS overcame all the drama and broke Sasikala’s subsequent attempts to enter into the party by speaking over the phone with the party cadres. But this gave him just temporary respite, and EPS is unable to feel at ease. Close on the heels of Sasikala’s attempts to take over the party reins, he is now surrounded by mounting pressure from the Kodanad case.

OPS plays his cards right

What’s doing more damage to the support base of EPS is that OPS is now gaining some positive reviews for his speeches in the Assembly. He praised the DMK’s senior leader Durai Murugan as his ‘elder brother’ when the latter celebrated his completion of 50 years in the Assembly. In the following days, OPS praised DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and welcomed the government’s decision to build a memorial for him. He also made it clear that he had no role to play in the previous government’s move to prevent the DMK from burying Karunanidhi at Marina beach.

When the state government passed a resolution against three farm laws, OPS said he was in a situation where “there is a flood in the river and fire on the shore”, meaning he was not in a position either to fully stand with the DMK or to be faithful to his party.

Moreover, OPS’ loss of his wife has earned him sympathy cutting across party lines.

All this while, except during a meeting with the Governor in August requesting him to stop the DMK’s move to probe into the Kodanad case, OPS has been fairly silent on this issue. EPS, meanwhile, has gone into silent mode and is not actively participating in the Assembly debates.

It appears that those who were with EPS have slowly started distancing themselves from him, apparently following the reopening of the case. With the accused turning against him, and evidence also mounting against him, EPS is having sleepless nights.

The questions OPS raised

While the investigation in the case is getting stronger and faster, some of the questions raised by OPS in 2017, before he was convinced against rebelling and brought back into the party, have started doing the rounds on social media.

“It is claimed that the burglars have taken many documents from the bungalow. Who were they? Did they come for any other reasons? What is their true motive? Who sent them? The information received from the police investigation in this matter is showing huge discrepancies. Why the discrepancy? Did the police face any hurdles in expediting the investigation?” asked OPS in a statement.

Apparently, only now the courts are taking cognisance of the discrepancies found in the police charge-sheets. For example, according to media reports, there are differences in the information given by the investigating officer, the post mortem report and in the FIR, with regard to the murder of Om Bahadur, the guard at the Kodanad bungalow.

There are also some glaring gaps in the investigation. For instance, how did the forensic officials arrive at the spot at 7:15 am on April 24 (the day after Om Bahadur was killed) even before the investigating officer was informed? Why was investigating officer Balachandran, an inspector at Kotagiri police station, updated very late about the crime? Why was there no investigation on the power cut on the day of the crime? It is expected that some of these queries will be addressed in the coming weeks.

That may or may not help EPS sleep better.