Tamil Nadu government constitutes inquiry commission to probe Jayalalithaa's death

"To conduct 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 Edappadi 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 hospital for 75 days.

A probe into Jayalalithaa's death was one of the demands made by then 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.

Arumughaswamy was elevated as High Court Judge on February 17, 2010 and retired on April 27, 2014. He had served as chairman of Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai, and as Judicial Member, Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench, Chennai Arumughaswamy joined Subordinate Judiciary as District Munsif on May 16, 1986, and climbed up the ladder to become the Registrar General, Madras High Court on March 31, 2009.