The Strange And Murky Estate Heist

 

- G.C. Shekhar

“Fast, furious and fishy.” That would be the title if it was made into a movie. And the storyline runs like this: a powerful political leader dies; her friend tries to usurp the throne, but gets jailed in an old corruption case; the friend’s nephew tries to take the aunt’s place, but a bypoll gets cancelled, stalling his plan, while he gets arrested for attempted bribery.

Now add the crime angle to this. The bungalow in a sprawling estate belonging to the leader and her friend is burgled. One security guard is killed in the process and another badly injured. What the robbers took away from the mansion remains unclear. The leader of the dacoits, according to the police, happens to be a former driver of the friend, who gets killed in a road accident soon after, while an alleged accomplice meets with another road accident that kills his wife and child and grievously injures him.

The people of Tamil Nadu have not had a moment to catch their breath as a most bizarre political crime thriller has been unfolding in a fast-paced blur over the past two weeks. “For people hooked on to conspiracy-filled family dramas and charged up reality shows on television, last week’s events proved to be a combination of both in real life,” observed Tamil writer and part time actor Pa. Krishnan. “This real-life thriller could well be the closest challenger to Baahubali 2.”

Even as T.T.V. Dinakaran was being questioned by the Delhi Police for attempting to bribe Election Commission officials, on the night of April 24-25, a gang (an 11-member one, according to the police) broke into Jayalalitha’s Kodanad Estate in Nilgiris district.