Madras HC refuses plea to declare Jayalalithaa's death suspicious

The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a petition to declare the death of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa as suspicious and to conduct a probe into its cause.

Advocate A K Velan had filed the petition at the High Court urging it to direct police to register Jayalalithaa's death as suspicious and to conduct a probe.

However, Justice M V Muralidharan dismissed the petition and asked the petitioner to approach the one-man panel for any relief within two weeks.

Jayalalithaa, popularly known as 'Amma', was taken to Chennai's Apollo hospital on September 22, 2016, and treated in the hospital for 75 days before she breathed her last on December 5.

Following her death, allegations of foul play began to do the rounds and state forest minister Dindigul Sreenivasan even claimed that all cabinet ministers had lied to the people about hospitalisation and death of the former chief minister Jayalalithaa.

Subsequently, a one-man commission was constituted and a probe under a retired Madras High Court judge, Justice Arumugasamy, was initiated on October 30.