Kodanad murder case: Cops granted custody of accused Dhanapal for five days

COIMBATORE: Nilgiris district sessions court in Udhagamandalam granted police five days custody of Dhanapal, who was arrested in connection with Kodanad heist-cum-murder case recently. C Dhanapal from Edappadi in Salem is the brother of C Kanagaraj, one of the prime accused in the case who died in a road accident at Attur in Salem shortly after the Kodanad incident.

Dhanapal and R Ramesh (34), an associate of Kanagaraj, were arrested from Attur and booked under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 204 (destruction of evidence), 212 (harbouring offender) and 414 (dishonest misappropriation of property possessed by a diseased person at the time of his death) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

It has been alleged that both Ramesh and Dhanapal had destroyed evidence by burning a mobile phone that belonged to Kanagaraj. The police sought 10 days custody of Dhanapal to grill him for retrieving the evidence. But Udhagamandalam district judge-cum-chief judicial magistrate C Sanjai Baba granted them five days custody of Dhanapal. The police are expected to seek custody of Ramesh in the coming days.

‘Destroyed evidence’
It has been alleged that both Ramesh and Dhanapal had destroyed evidence by burning a mobile phone that belonged to Kanagaraj