Jayalalithaa's death: Why can't her body be exhumed, asks Madras High Court

Chennai: A vacation bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday cast doubts over the death of former Tamil Nadu chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who breathed her last at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals on December 5.

"Media has raised a lot of doubts, personally I also have doubts in Jayalalithaa's case," Justice Vaidyalingam of the Madras High Court said while hearing a petition seeking a CBI probe into former Tamil Nadu chief minister's death.

Justice Vaidyalingam, while stating that the truth related to Jayalalithaa should come out, also asked why can't her body be exhumed for proper medical examination.

When she was admitted in hospital, it was said that she was on proper diet. At least after her death now, truth should be revealed, Justice Vaidyalingam was quoted as saying by ANI.

The judge made these observations while hearing a public interest litigation filed in the Madras High Court pleading it to form a committee headed by a former judge of the Supreme Court to probe the circumstances that led to the "mysterious death" of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Filed by a primary member of the AIADMK, PA Joseph of Arumbakkam in Chennai, the PIL listed the sequence of events since Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation at Apollo Hospitals on September 22 and said the secrecy preceding her death gave rise to grave doubts in people's mind.

The PIL, which named 12 respondents including Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy, contented that the commission should peruse all records, reports and documents in possession of the government as well as the hospital, and go into 'several questionable incidents' including the sudden hospitalisation, her reported recovery and the sudden cardiac arrest resulting in her death on December 5.

The commission shall have at least three retired judges of the Supreme Court, the PIL said, adding that they should also inquire Jayalalithaa's thumb impression on election forms, her advice to the Tamil Nadu Governor while still on ventilator, the entire drama witnessed at Apollo Hospitals on December 4 and 5. 

Unless all relevant documents are taken into court custody, there is great likelihood that they would be tampered, the PIL said.

It also refereed to the hospital's periodical medical bulletin claiming that Jayalalithaa was recovering, and the fact that police even went to the extent of registering 43 cases and arresting people who had raised doubts about Jayalalithaa's health.

Several petitions had been filed in the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court seeking a fair investigation into the former AIADMK leader's 'mysterious' death. 

A Public interest Litigation (PIL) was recently filed in the Supreme Court by a Chennai-based NGO Telugu over the circumstances in which Jayalalithaa died.

The petition also called for a probe by either the CBI or a judicial investigation into J Jayalalithaa’s death.