Nearly ten months after the demise of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a corporate hospital in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Government on Monday appointed an enquiry commission headed by a retired judge of the Madras High Court to probe her death.
According to a release by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, AK Arumughaswamy (65), a former judge of the Madras HC, has been appointed as the head of the Commission of Enquiry.
The release said a Government order has been issued in this regard. On Friday, Dindigul C Sreenivasan, Tamil Nadu Minister said he and other Council of Ministers were forced to lie about the status of health of J Jayalalithaa.
MK Stalin, leader of the Opposition had on Saturday had issued a statement demanding a CBI probe into the factors which led to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016 and her subsequent demise on December 5, 2016.
Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had declared on August 17 that a retired judge of the Madras High Court would probe the details behind the hospitalisation and subsequent demise of Jayalalithaa. The judicial probe into the death of Jayalalithaa was the main pre-condition set by the Panneerselvam faction for the merger of the two groups.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital on the night of September 22, 2016. One of the persons staying at Jayalalithaa’s residence Veda Nilayam in Chennai’s Poes Garden, is believed to have telephoned Apollo Hospital in the city for an ambulance to be sent to the Chief Minister’s residence. Veda Nilayam, is hardly less than five km from the Apollo Hospital and it took nearly half an hour for the ambulance to transport the ailing Chief Minister to the hospital.
But an important missing link in the whole episode is the 24X7 ambulance, equipped with a mini-hospital present near the Chief Minister’s residence. Why this ambulance was not used to shift the then Chief Minister from her residence to the hospitalIJ Where were the duty doctor and para-medics deployed by the Government to be in attendance to Jayalalithaa for any medical emergenciesIJ
Since the time Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1991, she had been provided with Z Plus category security and was always under the protection of the Black Cat commandoes of the National Security Guards. The air space above her residential premises as well as the entire Poes Garden area was out of bounds for aircraft.
Intelligence officials monitoring Veda Nilayam and the Poes Garden premises had expressed their shock over the absence of any ambulance on the fateful night in the premises of the CM’s residence. More than that, what has remained unanswered is the status of Jayalalithaa’s health in the run up to her hospitalisation. This correspondent was taken aback by the looks of Jayalalithaa when she hoisted the national tri-colour on August 15, 2016 and examined the guard of honour presented by the Tamil Nadu Police. Jayalalithaa was seen walking with pain largely written on her face and it took minutes for her even to take a dozen steps.
“She was looking very sick, weak and fragile during the entire programme. We had a fear that she may fall down any time even as the parade was in progress,” a senior functionary had confided to The Pioneer.
An official, who witnessed Jayalalithaa flagging off the Chennai Metro Rail Services from little Mount Station to Airport in Chennai on September 22, said he was appalled at the health status of the Chief Minister. “Her hands were shaking and she was shivering while holding the remote control for unveiling the plaque to mark the beginning of the service,” said the official.
The video recordings of the Independence Day parade and the Chennai Metro Rail Service functions are available with the Doordarshan and it would throw more light into the ailments that had plagued Jayalalithaa. But the question remaining unasked is why the people who were supposed to look after the chief minister did not take her to the hospital before September 22, 2016 in spite of her failing health. And who was the government physician in charge of the Chief Minister’s healthIJ
One more issue haunting the public mind is the statements made by some of the prominent members in the union council of ministers about the difficulty in getting access to then Chief Minister for official discussions and consultations. People who were close to Jayalalithaa, for example KP Sunil (who headed the Jaya TV during 2012-2013) and KC Palaniswamy, the entrepreneur-turned-AIADMK leader, were deliberately kept away from her for reasons still unknown to them.