AIADMK led Tamil Nadu government on Monday constituted an inquiry commission under a retired judge to probe former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death, news agency PTI reported. The move comes hours after sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran asserted that he was ready to submit before any probe agency, including CBI, a video shot by his V K Sasikala of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, when she was in the hospital last year.
The AIADMK leader said that video had not been released so far since Jayalalithaa was in a “nightie”. Earlier, the opposition led by the DMK had called for a CBI probe into the treatment and death of the former chief minister, citing a state minister’s recent remarks that AIADMK leaders “lied” about Jayalalithaa’s health during her hospitalisation.
“Amma (Jayalalithaa) had lost a lot of weight… it was a video shot by my aunt (Sasikala) herself. You all know none would have seen Amma in a nightie, not any functionary. Even when late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Amma following her accident in 1989, she was fully attired, she always maintained that dignity,” Dhinakaran was quoted as saying.
Dhinakaran said that Jayalalithaa, attired in a “loose nightie” was shot by Sasikala after the former was shifted from the ICU at Apollo Hospitals to a room. As per Dhinakaran, when the opposition had earlier raised doubts over Jayalalithaa’s treatment and death, Sasikala had herself suggested that “we ourselves should seek a judicial probe” into the matter.
Recently, sparking a big row, senior Tamil Nadu minister and AIADMK leader Dindigul Srinivasan had claimed that party leaders lied about Jayalalithaa’s health last year. He revealed that one was allowed to meet the late chief minister. The minister had even sought the pardon of AIADMK cadres and the public for lying about Jayalalithaa’s health.