The Justice Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, which is investigating the death of J Jayalalithaa, has allowed the inspection of the room at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals where the former Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted for 75 days in 2016, PTI reported on Saturday.
The judge allowed the commission’s two lawyers – S Parthasarathy and Niranjan Rajagopalan – two advocates representing Jayalalithaa’s aide VK Sasikala and a photojournalist to inspect the facility between 7 pm and 7.45 pm on July 29.
The commission’s lawyers had challenged the objections raised by Apollo Hospitals. They had argued that they needed to visit and examine 10 locations within the hospital. The commission said the inspection was necessary to compare the features of Jayalalithaa’s room with those in a video submitted as evidence.
Apart from Jayalalithaa’s room, the team is allowed to visit the second floor and the third floor, where Sasikala and her relatives stayed. Besides, the commission asked the hospital to identity locations where ministers stayed and the briefing room. “The photographer is permitted to take photos snaps of the room, ward, etc as they like not exceeding 10 snaps subject to the approval of the secretary of the commission and the hospital authorities and if any difference of opinion, the decision of the secretary prevails,” reads the order, according to The Hindu. However, the team cannot talk to the hospital authorities.
The state government had set up the commission to investigate Jayalalithaa’s death in September 2017. Jayalalithaa was taken to hospital on September 22, 2016, and she died on December 5 that year.
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