Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s nephew J Deepak on Sunday denied the allegations that he had conspired with VK Sasikala to kill the leader. He also said that he had a copy of the former All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief’s will that includes Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden house and six other properties, reported dt NEXT, a local English daily published by Daily Thanthi group.
The allegations against him were made by his sister and MGR Amma Deepa Peravai leader J Deepa. “Jayalalitha was like a mother to him, but for the sake of money, he turned against her and killed her,” she had said, according to NDTV.
J Deepak, however, said they were both heirs to Jayalalithaa’s properties. “We have equal rights to enjoy the properties,” J Deepak told dt NEXT. “We will approach the courts with copies of the “will” only when there is a dispute of ownership. The seven properties to which we stake claim do not figure in the list of properties that is named in the Disproportionate Assets case.”
On Sunday, Deepa was stopped from entering the former chief minister’s Poes Garden residence. However, she refused to leave and staged a demonstration outside the house saying she will wait there until she is let inside. “We will stand here, and will go inside come what may,” she had said. “We are being humiliated.”
She had gone to the house along with her husband to pay tribute to her late aunt on Sunday morning. While she was allowed to garland a portrait of Jayalalithaa kept at the front porch of the house, she was not allowed to enter the house. Deepak is believed to have been inside the house when the dramatic incidents unfolded.
Jayalalithaa’s long-time aide Sasikala had occupied the Poes Garden residence after the chief minister’s death. However, she had to leave the property when she was arrested in a disproportionate assets case in February. Sasikal’s nephew TTV Dinakaran used it to visit the house often to hold meetings.
Deepa and her husband Madhavan had launched MGR Amma Deepa Peravai on February 24, marking Jayalalithaa’s birth anniversary. They had both opposed the selection of VK Sasikala loyalist Edappadi K Palaniswami as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Later, Madhavan floated a new political party of his own, MGR Jayalalithaa Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
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