Jayalalithaa's death: Apollo Hospital submits 5-page affidavit, explains why CCTVs were off

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Apollo Hospital in Chennai on Saturday submitted a five-page affidavit in which it said that the management had been requested to keep CCVTs in the hospital off each time Jayalalithaa was taken out of her room.

In its affidavit submitted to the Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, the hospital's management said that four police officers - including IG (Intelligence) KN Sathiyamurthy - has requested them to keep the CCTVs off when 'Jayalalithaa was taken through the route and it would be switched on when she was back in the room.'

The lack of adequate CCTV footage from around the time the former Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted here in late 2016 has raised several eyebrows. Doctors at Apollo Hospital are among many who have been questioned and cross-examined.

Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, 2016 after being treated in the hospital for 75 days from September 22 for various ailments. In September 2017, the state government had constituted the probe panel under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, mandating it to probe the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation and also the treatment provided by the hospital until her demise.  The commission, whose term has been extended twice since then, had invited all those having "personal knowledge and direct acquaintance" to furnish information related to her.

Several persons, including present CM O Panneerselvam and his followers, had earlier raised suspicions about the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's death.