Giving a big breather to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a CBI probe into the Kodanad estate murder case. The murder was committed in April 27, 2017 when former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s guard was found killed in April 2017 at her bungalow in Kodanad estate near Ooty.

The petition in Supreme Court was filed by a social activist KR Ramaswamy, popularly known as Traffic Ramaswamy. The petition was filed after a week following a 16-minute investigative documentary by a former magazine editor who alleged that Palaniswami was behind the break-in to retrieve important documents and the subsequent deaths. While EPS went on to deny the allegations, calling them politically motivated, the opposition has sought his resignation and demanded a SIT probe into the matter.

A 40-year-old security guard was found with his mouth stuffed with cloth and taped. The police had said that a gang broke into the bungalow to steal documents and valuables. Days after the security guard was found murdered her former driver were also found dead after a car accident. He was one of the suspects in the guard’s murder and was also questioned, police sources had said.

—India Legal Bureau