SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — A high court in India’s Tamil Nadu state has asked why the body of former chief minister J. Jayalalitha cannot be exhumed for investigation.
The Madras high court said the media “has raised doubts” about the cause of her Dec. 5 death, and that “the truth should be revealed.” She was buried the following day at India’s MGR Memorial on the country’s Marina Beach.
Jayalalitha was reportedly admitted to a hospital for treatment for more than three months, but the public were provided little information about her health at the time. She was regarded as one of India’s most charismatic and enigmatic politicians.
A two-judge bench at the Madras court was hearing a petition, which was seeking further investigation into the chief minister’s death.
“We also saw in the newspapers that the chief minister was recovering, and that she was eating, signing papers and even conducting meetings. And then suddenly she was dead,” The Times of India quoted the judges as saying. “At least after her death now, the truth should be revealed,” they added.
The court opined this after discovering no revenue division officer had ever been permitted to see the body.
The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Jayalalitha’s close aide Sasikala Natarajan, who was with her in her final days in the hospital, has taken over as the chief of her AIADMK party.
