Why Not Exhume Amma’s Body, Asks a Suspicious Madras HC Judge

Sasikala pays tribute to late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at Rajajai Hall in Chennai. (Photo: AP) 

Even as Jayalalithaa’s close aide Sasikala Natarajan was declared the AIADMK leader by the ruling party in the General Council meeting, a Madras High Court judge on Thursday expressed doubts over the late Chief Minister’s death.

While hearing a petition filed by an AIADMK member named Joseph, the sitting judge of the vacation bench Justice Vaidyanathan observed:

I have personal suspicions over Jayalalithaa’s death. There were reports of her eating, talking, attending meetings and signing documents. Then how was she dead all of a sudden? At least now after her death, the truth should be revealed.

The judge also went on to say that the court could order the exhumation and post-mortem of Jayalalithaa’s body.

Even after her death, you have not submitted any medical records, why can’t we order exhumation of the body?

Also Read: Gautami Raises Questions on Jayalalithaa’s ‘Unsettling’ Death

While expressing his 'personal opinion', the judge then handed over the case to a regular bench.

On 18 December, expelled AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa also moved the Supreme Court seeking a judicial probe into Jayalalithaa’s death, calling it “suspicious”. In her petition, Pushpa revealed that Jayalalithaa’s medical condition was not disclosed, no one was allowed to visit her and her hospitalisation was “kept under wraps.”

A similar plea was filed in the apex court by the Tamil Nadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi, claiming that doubts have been raised over the circumstances of the AIADMK leader’s death and her medical reports needed to be examined by experts.

(With inputs from The News Minute)