Apollo Hospitals refutes reports of Amma's death as 'baseless, false'

Apollo Hospitals, where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is undergoing treatment after her cardiac arrest last evening, has rejected reports of her death as played by some Tamil television channels.

The initial news of her alleged demise resulted in the AIADMK supporters and followers breaking down and indulging in acts of violence.

The AIDMK had also lowered its flag for almost 30 minutes, but hoisted it again after the hospital dubbed the report as a "hoax".

In a statement issued here a short while ago, the hospital said, "Some TV channels are wrongly reporting that the Chief Minister is no more. This is totally baseless and false. They are advised to rectify this mistake based on this press release."

"The Honourable Chief Minister continues to be on life support at the Apollo Hospitals. The Apollo Specialists and Specialists from AIIMS are continually monitoring the Chief Minister very closely," the hospital further said.

Chennai Police Commissioner S. George has issued a memorandum to all officers to remain on duty until further order.

The Police Commissioner instructed: "All the Joint Commissioners of Police, Law and Order, to only keep essential strengths at all police stations and deploy the rest 75 percent of the force for "bandobust". The strength of each unit should be in multiples and under the supervision of an Assistant Commissioner of Police."

Meanwhile, the AIADMK leaders are holding a meeting at the party headquarters to assess ongoing developments and future action.