Jayalalithaa death: Inquiry panel finds aide Sasikala, others ‘at fault’, recommends further probe
The commission was set up in 2017 after state ministers made contradictory claims about access to the former Tamil Nadu CM when she was hospitalised.
A commission set up to look into the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has found that her aide VK Sasikala, doctor KS Sivakumar, former state Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and former state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar were “at fault”, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.
The commission has submitted a report recommended further investigation into their role in not ensuring proper treatment to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader. The report was tabled in the state Assembly on Tuesday.
Jayalalithaa died in Chennai on December 5, 2016, a day after she suffered a cardiac arrest. She had been hospitalised for more than two months before her death.
The Tamil Nadu government set up the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission in September 2017 after state ministers made contradicting claims about their access to Jayalalithaa while she was hospitalised.
The commission stated in its report that a United States-based doctor, Samin Sharma, had convinced the former AIADMK chief to undergo an angioplasty, and an expert based in the United Kingdom, Richard Beale, also said that he was willing to take her abroad for treatment.
However, two doctors from Chennai’s Apollo Hospital, YVC Reddy and Babu Abraham, “successfully threw it [expert opinions of Sharma and Beale] to the wind on the pretext of postponing it, to achieve their aim under some pressure”, the report noted.
The commission also found that there was criminality on the part of the then chief secretary Rama Mohana Rao in connection with his signatures on 21 forms related to procedural aspects, according to The Hindu.
The report also said that Pratap C Reddy, the chairman of the Apollo Hospital, issued a false statement to the media that the former chief minister could be discharged at any time.
“Secondly, he has issued briefings in his room often without disclosing the real fact regarding the heart ailments and the treatment to be given to late CM,” the report said. “It is for the government to decide and investigate the matter.”
In August, a report by a panel of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences had said that there were no errors in the treatment provided to Jayalalithaa, according to The News Minute. “The treatment of the former CM was as per correct medical practice and no errors have been found in the care provided,” the report had said.