Jayalalithaa died on December 4, says Divakaran

In a shocking revelation likely to have far-reaching ramifications, jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala’s younger brother Dhivakaran on Wednesday claimed that former chief minister J Jayalalithaa had died on December 4, 2016 and hinted that the Centre was aware of it. Jayalalithaa was pronounced dead at Apollo Hospitals on December 5, 2016.

Dhivakaran’s statement created ripples at a time when the Justice Arumughaswamy Commission is probing the circumstances leading to the death of the former chief minister. Dhivakaran said he received information that Jayalalithaa had died of massive heart attack on December 4 and when he reached the hospital ‘an eagle’ (veiled reference to a senior leader) from the Centre was present there.

“I cannot name the eagle, since it has flown to a higher post which cannot be criticised. ‘An egg’ (a senior Tamil Nadu leader) was giving the details of Jayalalithaa’s death to the ‘eagle,’ he added

Speaking at a public meeting at Mannargudi, Dhivakaran also charged the Apollo Hospitals with not coming forward to reveal the truth. Dhivakaran said he asked the hospital management why they had not announced the death, but ‘Reddy’ replied that they were waiting for the government to ensure protection to all its branches in the state.

Meanwhile in Coimbatore, TTV Dinakaran refused to speak about the controversy surrounding Jayalalithaa’s death. “I cannot comment on things, which I am unaware of,” he said.

CHENNAI: Responding to allegations by Dhivakaran, Apollo Hospitals in a press release clarified that “the late CM had expired on Dec 5, 2016”. Calling the allegation as ‘misinformation,’ the unsigned release from the hospital said that “Declaration of the death was done as per standard clinical protocols. Any distortion of the facts would be extremely unfortunate and unjust to all the care-givers and the medical experts, both from India and abroad who relentlessly rendered medical treatment to our former Chief Minister”