CHENNAI: Finding fault with J Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala and three others for not acting on advice of doctors, including the suggestion to perform an angiogram and a cardiac surgery on the former chief minister, the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission has suggested an inquiry against the four.
Besides Sasikala, the commission named KS Sivakumar, the former CM’s personal physician, the then health minister C Vijayabaskar, and Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan in its report. The findings have further heated the politics in Tamil Nadu.
However, the commission said there was no suspicion in Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation as shifting her to a medical facility was warranted after her condition worsened at her Poes Garden residence on September 22, 2016.
The commission’s conclusion bursts several conspiracy theories around the circumstances that led to her hospitalisation including the one that she was pushed by “someone” at her home.
Another significant aspect of the report is the commission’s claim that Jayalalithaa could have died at 3.50 pm on December 4, 2016 after suffering a cardiac arrest though her death was officially declared the next day at 11.30 pm. It also recommended a probe against the then chief secretary P Rama Mohana Rao for not addressing a letter and intimating to the Government regarding his signature in 21 forms on various dates for procedural aspects.
The commission blamed Sasikala and the three others for not acting on the medical advice rendered by doctors, including Richard Beale who flew in from London, and Stuart Russell who came from the US, to shift Jayalalithaa abroad for treatment and to perform an angiogram and a “life-saving” cardiac surgery on the then-CM. It also suggested that the treatment and the entire hospitalisation period of Jayalalithaa was shrouded in secrecy and rejected the contention of a board of doctors from the AIIMS which had agreed with the treatment protocol.
In her response, Sasikala said it was unfortunate that Jayalalithaa’s death continues to be politicised. The appointment of the commission itself is a “political move” and the report goes to make unsubstantiated lies and claims about Jayalalithaa’s treatment. Sasikala further said that she was not bothered as “this is not the first time I have been blamed.
