Retired judge appointed to probe former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa's death

The 68-year-old AIADMK supremo died following a cardiac arrest on Dec 5, 2016

The Tamil Nadu government constituted today an inquiry commission headed by a retired high court judge to probe the death of then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa nearly 10 months ago.

"To conduct an inquiry and submit a report on the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, an inquiry commission headed by retired high court judge, Justice Arumugasamy, has been constituted," according to an official release here.

A government order has been issued for this purpose, it said.

On August 17, Chief Minister K Palaniswami had announced that a commission of inquiry would go into the death of Jayalalithaa.

The 68-year-old AIADMK supremo died following a cardiac arrest on December 5 after being in the hospital for 75 days.

A probe into Jayalalithaa's death was one of the demands made by the rebel leader and now Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam for the formal merger of his faction with that of Palaniswami.

The two factions had merged on August 21.