Will mystery over Jayalalithaa's death get a fresh lease of life?

New Delhi: The death of Jayalalithaa, one of India's most charismatic and powerful politicians, may well be coming back to haunt politics.

A probe panel set up to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the four-term Tamil Nadu chief minister's death has concluded that her close aide, V K Sasikala, her doctor K S Sivakumar, then Tamil Nadu health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan and former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar were at fault.

When she was declared dead on December 5, 2016 after being admitted to a top Chennai hospital, there were several conspiracy theories, and conflicting accounts of her illness and how she had "suffered" at the hands of Sasikala.

Subsequently, a succession war bedevilled the AIADMK (which lasts even to this day).

In 2017, it saw a sort of deal between then CM Edappadi Palanisami and rival leader O Paneerselvam before the latter's faction merged with the former.

At that time, both leaders were seen as keen to investigate the alleged role of Sasikala who lived with Jayalalithaa for many years. They wanted to curb her influence on the AIADMK.

So an inquiry headed by former Madras High Court judge, A Arumughaswamy, was set up.

Now its report has given a fresh lease of life to the controversies as well as provided fresh ammunition to their rivals.

The DMK government tabled the probe report in the state assembly on October 18 after the state cabinet discussed the 600-page report. It decided that legal experts would be consulted further regarding its recommendations.

DMK's promise on Jayalalithaa's death

During the 2021 assembly election, the DMK had promised in its election manifesto that they will “bring out the truth” surrounding Jayalalithaa’s death.

Today, the rank and file of the AIADMK, which is now split between three factions -- headed by former CM Edapadi Palanisamy, O Paneerselvam and Sasikala and her nephew T T V Dhinakaran -- wonder how the DMK government could use the report's "findings" to fix them.

What happened to Jayalalithaa?

Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on September 22, 2016, after a fall in her residence. A few days later the hospital consulted Dr Richard Beale, a specialist from the Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London. Her treatment regimen included continued respiratory support, nebulisation, medicine to decongest the lungs, antibiotics, nutrition, general nursing care and supportive therapy.”

Her health was said to be improving over the coming weeks. After more than 50 days in the hospital, Jayalalithaa even said, in a signed letter, that she has taken a “rebirth” and that she was waiting to get back soon to routine official work. However, after treatment there for 75 days, she passed away on December 5 of that year. She was 68.

In 2017, Sasikala's conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in a disproportionate asset case involving corruption. Jayalalithaa was the prime accused in that case. Sasikala was sent to a prison in neighbouring Karnataka for four years.

On completion of her term, Sasikala was released from prison but found herself barred from contesting either the Assembly or the Lok Sabha elections till January 27, 2027, though there was no legal bar for her to lead a party.

So, she attempted to take charge of the AIADMK but was thwarted by Palanisami and Pannerselvam.

Interestingly, among the witnesses who testified before the probe panel were Panneerselvam and Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa and nephew Deepak who said she died in "mysterious circumstances." Sasikala filed a written statement. Apollo Hospital doctors testified on the treatment along with the specialists from Delhi's AIIMS, who were asked by the Supreme Court to review the matter. In fact, the AIIMS medical panel gave the Apollo Hospitals a clean chit in the treatment provided to Jayalalithaa and concurred with its final diagnosis.

In its report, the probe detailed the events that led to Jayalalithaa’s sudden hospitalisation on September 22, 2016, and the subsequent treatment provided to her at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

It questioned why an angioplasty was not performed on her despite advice from doctors and why there was no effort to airlift her abroad for further treatment as suggested by Dr Richard Beale from the UK. The probe claimed that US doctor Samin Sharma had convinced the late CM to agree to angioplasty and Dr Beale was ready to take her abroad for treatment but this did not materialise.

Therefore, Sasikala, her doctor K S Sivakumar, then Tamil Nadu health secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan and former Health Minister C Vijayabaskar "have to be found at fault with and an investigation is to be ordered,” Justice Arumughaswamy wrote in the report. Significantly, the probe also said there was no “cordial relationship” between Jayalalithaa and Sasikala after she was allowed again to come back to her Poes Garden residence in March 2012-- a year after her expulsion.

Justice Arumughaswamy found "criminality" against the then Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Rama Mohana Rao over his signature on 21 forms on various dates for the procedural aspects. "Of course, it is a man-made lapse and he would reap the consequences, especially because the life of the late CM was involved. Hence, an investigation is to be ordered."

Criticism against probe

Did the probe go on the lines that were desired by the Edappadi Palanisamy government? This charge came up because it was alleged that, as CM, Palanisamy found it easy to let Sasikala be indicted by the A. Arumughaswamy Commission.

She was then a common enemy of both Panneerselvam and Palanisamy. Today, Palanisamy is battling with Panneerselvam for control of the AIADMK. Panneerselvam is also keen for re-entry of Sasikala into the AIADMK to corner Palanisamy.

During the probe, Apollo Hospitals claimed the Arumughasamy Commission was seeking to fix criminal intent on the part of the hospital. It approached the Madras High Court, pleading that the probe was not qualified to inquire into the correctness of treatment meted out and that a medical board be constituted to assist the judge. But the High Court rejected the plea. In 2021, the Supreme Court favoured the constitution of a medical panel from the AIIMS to advise the probe.

This panel agreed with the hospital’s submission that Jayalalithaa had suffered a "matrix of diseases" for which she was given correct and appropriate treatment.

Should the DMK government use the report to fix all AIADMK leaders? Was Sasikala really involved in Jayalalithaa's death? That's a question before Chief Minister M K Stalin whose government is already beginning to see the rise of anti-incumbency factors. It may be tempted to go for a bigger probe to find out if there is a case for pressing the charge of criminality on the people named in the report.

A needle of suspicion?

One is reminded that a commission of inquiry under Justice M P Thakkar, investigating the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi, had concluded four years later that the “needle of suspicion" points to her old aide, R K Dhawan.

Of course, the Thakkar Commission did not conclude that Dhawan had a hand in the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

It did, however, find it "extraordinary" that Dhawan should have been immediately behind Indira Gandhi and not even grazed by the volley of bullets which sprayed the then-prime minister. Based on such circumstantial evidence, it identified a "needle of suspicion" quivering in the direction of her most well-known aide.

The Thakkar panel charged Dhawan not only with being responsible for posting back the two police constables who shot her-- Beant Singh and Satwant Singh--  after they were removed from Indira Gandhi's security, but also of "manipulating" the timing of her television interview on the morning of October 31, 1984, to facilitate the assassination. Later, Thakkar concluded, Dhawan doctored the interview entry in the appointment diary to cover his tracks.

After its report, Dhawan was not only removed from his posts but there was a very real threat that he could even be arrested.

But when then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi came under severe attack from the Opposition over the Bofors scandal, he realised he needed the services of a political manager like Dhawan who was exonerated of all charges and appointed OSD (Officer on Special Duty to PM) in 1989. Dhawan regained his influence even after Rajiv Gandhi’s death and was subsequently elected twice to the Rajya Sabha. He was a member of the Congress Working Committee. He was Minister for Urban Development when P V Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister. Dhawan passed away at age 81 on August 6, 2018.