EPS wins defamation case against brother of Kodanad case accused

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The Madras high court has asked C Dhanapal, the elder brother of the prime accused in the Kodanad heist-cum-murder case, to pay ₹1.10 crore as damages to leader of opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) and has restrained him from making defamatory comments against the latter.

Justice RMT Teekaa Raman ordered Dhanapal to pay ₹1.10 crore damages to EPS and also permanently injuncted him from making defamatory comments against the opposition leader.

“I find that on a combine reading of the pleadings in the plaint and evidence, the plaintiff is a person in the State of Affairs and who held a post in the rank of a Chief Minister of State and making derogatory allegations, particularly, in the electronic media continuously and throwing such allegations in public wide debate will certainly lower and reputation of the public functionary and the same cannot be brush aside,” the justice said. 

He further said: “In the absence of any explanation on the side of the defendant to show that there is a valid defence in proving the statements alleged by him against the plaintiff (EPS), this Court comes to the conclusion that the statements made in the eye of public by way of various print and electronic media is nothing but targeted to tarnish the image and reputation of the plaintiff.”

EPS and the AIADMK did not react to the verdict. 

In 2023, Dhanapal had claimed that EPS, who was the chief minister in 2019, and former ministers of the AIADMK SP Velumani, P Thangamani and their close associate V Elangovan had “brainwashed” his younger brother C Kanagaraj to commit the crime.

Kanagaraj was the driver of late J Jayalalithaa whenever she visited the Kodanad estate. He died in a road accident in Salem district soon after the a robbery at the estate.

Dhanapal claimed that Kanagaraj’s death was not a mere road accident but was premeditated.

EPS in his plea said that at the insistence of his political enemies, Dhanapal gave media interviews linking him to the case to bring him disrepute ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. EPS described the claims as scandalous false allegations and accusations.

EPS has not been interrogated in the case so far and has often said that the ruling DMK is attempting to frame him.

The Kodanad tea estate in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district was Jayalalithaa’s summer retreat and sometimes she even functioned from there while in office.

On the night of April 23, 2017, a group of 10 men hacked to death Om Bahadur, a security guard at Kodanad estate. They broke into the bungalow and allegedly looted the place. After police made arrests in the case, the trial began in October 2019 in the Nilgiris (district) sessions court.

The case has been shrouded in mystery. A week after the break-in, on April 28, two of the main accused met with separate road accidents – Kanagaraj died on the spot near Salem and K V Sayan escaped with serious injuries but his wife and daughter died on the spot while they were on their way to Kerala.