Jayalalithaa’s Death: Probe Report Finds Fault With Aide Sasikala, Doctors

J Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016 after being admitted to a top Chennai hospital should be investigated, a former judge has concluded in a lengthy report which slams at least one top government official and VK Sasikala, the close aide of the politician who lived with her.

A commission headed by a former Madras High Court judge, A Arumughaswamy, was set up in 2017 when Ms Jayalalithaa’s party, the AIDMK, governed Tamil Nadu, to sift through conspiracy theories, conflicting accounts of Ms Jayalalithaa’s illness and treatment at Apollo Hospital, and legal claims.

When the DMK took charge of the state, it promised that it would ensure Ms Jayalalthaa’s death was investigated in detail. Justice A Arumughaswamy’s report was presented to the government in August.

The report was shared today in the Tamil Nadu assembly by the government.

It says that the top bureaucrat at the time of Jayalalithaa’s death, Chief Secretary Dr Rama Mohana Rao, is guilty of criminal actions. The report also makes strong observations against then Health Minister C Vijayabaskar and says Apollo Chairman Dr Prathap Reddy gave false statements on Jayalalithaa’s condition.