Tamil Nadu minister Vellamani Natarajan on Sunday said he had not seen late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when she was hospitalised at Apollo Hospital in Chennai in 2016, PTI reported. The tourism minister offered to depose before the Commission of Inquiry under Justice A Arumughaswamy that has been set up to investigate her death.
“I did not see Amma when she was in the Apollo Hospital,” Natarajan told reporters on Sunday. “We could go only up to the second storey of the hospital. No one was allowed after that.” He said all ministers of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were ready to depose before the commission.
On September 22, Tamil Nadu Forest Minister Dindigul Srinivasan had claimed that AIADMK leaders had misled the public into believing her health was improving as they were afraid of ousted party general secretary VK Sasikala. Days later, Tamil Nadu Co-operation Minister Sellur K Raju added to the speculation around Jayalalithaa’s death. Contradicting his colleagues, Raju said all the ministers met the former chief minister when she was hospitalised.
The commission has been asked to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016, and the subsequent treatment provided to her till her demise on December 5, 2016. The investigation into Jayalalithaa’s death was a pre-condition set by O Panneerselvam before his faction’s merger with the Chief Minister E Palaniswami-led AIADMK.
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