Kodanad murder: DMK holds 'siege' Raj Bhavan rally, demands K Palaniswami's resignation after video suggests links to 2017 case

Chennai: The DMK Thursday held a protest demonstration near Raj Bhavan in Chennai urging Governor Banwarilal Purohit to direct Chief Minister K Palaniswami to resign from his post for a fair probe into the Kodanad heist case. Raising slogans like “CM must resign, governor take action,” and holding placards, the DMK demonstration which threw traffic out of gear for hours here was led by city-based leaders former Mayor Ma Subramanian, PK Sekar Babu, J Anbazhagan and Madhavaram S Sudarsanam. [caption id=“attachment_4295865” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami. PTI[/caption] Apart from seeking Palaniswami’s resignation, the main opposition party demanded a probe by a Special Investigation Team, comprising officers of the rank of Inspector General of Police and further investigation into the “mysterious death” of alleged key conspirator Kanagaraj in the Kodanad case. Days ago, the DMK had submitted a petition to the governor pressing the same demands and AIADMK leaders too had met Purohit to present their case and accused the main opposition party of making false allegations to seek “political mileage.” After a former magazine editor Samuel Mathew released a video clip on 11 January alleging that the chief minister had links to the Kodanad heist and murder case of 2017, the DMK picked the issue. Palaniswami had categorically denied the allegations and a defamation case has been filed against Mathew in the Madras High Court. The protesting DMK cadres and leaders were shifted to a nearby hall by police and were later let off. “There is no news about what action the Governor has taken. To urge him to act, we have held the demonstration and we will continue doing it,” DMK chief M K Stalin, who joined the party leaders at the hall told reporters. Asked on DMK’s earlier petitions to Governor levelling corruption charges against some ministers and seeking action, he said: “the Centre is fully backing them (the AIADMK government) and this is an example.” The DMK had months ago petitioned the Governor against Ministers including Chief Minister Palaniswami and SP Velumani alleging corruption.