Madras HC summons Bengaluru Jail official with Jayalalithaa's fingerprints

The Madras High Court on Friday summoned the Superintendent of Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bengaluru to appear before it with the fingerprint records of Tamil Nadu's late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa in connection with affixing of the thumb impression on poll documents, said a lawyer.

The prison official will have to appear before the High Court on December 8, V.Arun, the lawyer for P.Saravanan, the DMK candidate for the Thirupparankundram assembly constituency in the by-election held last year, told IANS.

The court had also asked the Central government to produce the Aadhar card details of Jayalalithaa if any, he said, adding that the fingerprints of Jayalalithaa with the Bengaluru jail and with the Central government if she had taken an Aadhar card would be compared with those in the poll papers.

Saravanan had approached the court to cancel the election of AIADMK's A.K. Bose from the Thirupparankundram Assembly constituency in the by-election held last year, raising doubts on affixing of the thumb impression by Jayalalithaa, also the AIADMK chief, in his poll documents.

Jayalalithaa was lodged in the Parappana Agrahara prison after she was convicted in a corruption case by the trial court in 2014 but later let out on bail.

In September 2016, she was admitted to Apollo Hospital for illness. In October 2016, she had an inflamed right hand as she had undergone tracheostomy and had to affix her left thumb impression in the poll documents submitted by the AIADMK candidate.

As per the Representation of People Act, a candidate contesting on behalf of a political party has to submit Form B, where their party leader has to authorise the candidate to contest under the party's election symbol.

The by-polls in Aravakurichi, Thanjavur and Thiruparankundram assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu were slated for November 19, 2016 and the ruling AIADMK candidates had submitted their papers on October 28, 2016 to the Returning Officers.

The thumb impression of Jayalalithaa was attested by a government doctor - P.Balaji, Professor of Minimal Access Surgery, Madras Medical College.

In his comments, Balaji said: "Since the signatory has undergone tracheostomy recently and has an inflamed right hand, she is temporarily unable to affix her signature. Hence she has affixed her left thumb impression on her own in my presence."

Dr Babu K. Abraham, working in Apollo Hospitals, signed as a witness.

Tracheostomy is a medical procedure whereby a direct airway is created by an incision in the windpipe enabling a person to breathe directly without the use of nose or mouth.

Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital with fever and dehydration on September 22 and died after over 70 days in December.

--IANS

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