Chennai: It has been two years since the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on 5 December 2016. There was political unrest in the State following her death.
Though things in the government and the party seem to have settled down considerably now, the one question which keeps lingering in the heart and mind of many is how did Jayalalithaa actually die? And what happened during her 75 days of stay at the Apollo Hospitals?
Though an inquiry Commission headed by Justice Arumughaswamy has been set up by the government to probe the death of the leader, a conclusion is yet to be arrived at The Commission was supposed to complete its probe in six months time after its formation in September 2017.
However, it has been given extension since the process is lengthy. Several people including top officials and doctors were probed by the Commission so far, but there appears to be no clarity yet.
Recently, the director of Critical Care Units (CCU) at Apollo hospitals, Ramakrishnan, has deposed that Jayalalithaa died of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) which led to a cardiac arrest.
Meanwhile, there have been several reports of what happened at the hospital and in fact AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran’s supporter P Vettrivel in December 2017 released a video clipping of Jayalalithaa getting treated at the hospital.
While this was supposedly released to clear the rumours surrounding the AIADMK supremo’s demise, it actually raised several questions such as why the video was released so late and a section of the people even said that it was old.
Also, there is a big struggle over who should acquire the properties of Jayalalithaa including her Veda Nilayam residence at Poes Garden. While the government has said the house will be converted into a memorial and even conducted a survey, the Madras High Court recently ordered notice to the government on a PIL seeking to restrain the State from acquiring Poes Garden residence and converting it into a memorial using public fund.
A division bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Anita Sumanth passed the interim order on the plea moved by activist Traffic K R Ramaswamy.
Two years have gone since the passing away of the former Chief Minister. But the buzz surrounding her death and her properties is yet to die down.