CCTV footage of J Jayalalithaa's hospital stay deleted, Apollo tells probe panel

The hospital said that its server is programmed to be replaced after 30 days to accommodate new files.

CHENNAI: Apollo Hospitals has informed the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission which is probing the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa that the CCTV footage of AIADMK chief's hospital stay cannot be made available as it has been deleted.

The Chennai-based hospital told the panel that the footage in the hospital's server is programmed to be replaced after 30 days to accommodate new files.

"The CCTV recordings get overwritten automatically after 30 days. This information was shared with the Commission on September 11," Maimoona Badsha, counsel for Apollo Hospitals, was quoted as saying by IANS on Wednesday.

Badsha added that it has been the procedure at the hospital to store the CCTV footages for 30 days after which new images are recorded.

The Justice A Arumughaswamy-led inquiry commission was set up in September 2017 to probe the circumstances that led to the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister.

The commission had written to Executive Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Prathap C Reddy and the group's legal department on September 6, seeking the submission of the CCTV footage relevant to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation within a week.

In May this year, Prathap Reddy, the Executive Chairman of Apollo Hospitals told reporters that CCTV cameras in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where Jayalalithaa was undergoing treatment, were switched off. 

“Unfortunately, we switched off all the cameras. All other patients were diverted and only one or two rooms were used. We removed the footage,” Prathap Reddy had said.

When asked about Apollo Hospitals Executive Chairman Prathap C Reddy's earlier statement that the CCTV cameras were switched off, Badsha said "that is a different issue."