IRS officer seeks Sagayam probe into J Jayalalithaa's death

Chennai: Raising serious doubts over the death of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and stoic silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu governor CH Vidyasagar Rao on the issue, an Indian Revenue Service officer has approached the Madras high court seeking direction to the authorities to probe the death by IAS officer U. Sagayam. When the PIL filed by P. Balamurugan came up for hearing before the first bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, the bench decided to hear it along with similar PILs pending before it and adjourned the matter to July 4.

Balamurugan, now working as Assistant Commissioner, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Tribunal (CESTAT), said the former chief minister died under mysterious condition and it was murder.  The PIL said when a chief minister falls seriously ill, the Prime Minister either through the PMO or home minister or governor of the state should make an inquiry about the chief minister’s status and call for a report about her health status to decide whether her health condition permits her to run the state machinery and also to monitor change of power, if needed, as per the Constitution. Modi has not even made a courtesy phone. He did not call for any report from the governor.

On November 10, the Governor reallocated the portfolios headed by Jayalalithaa to O. Paneerselvam and Raj Bhavan press release stated that governor reallocated CM portfolios on the advice of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. “There is no documentary evidence to prove this,” he said. Admitting her in hospital and bringing experts including AIIMS doctors to provide treatment to her nothing but a cover up act and executed by people at higher echelons of power. Jaya was murdered and it was not a natural death, he alleged. When the matter was taken up on Monday, the government pleader M K Subramanian, vehemently opposed the PIL and stated that the allegations were baseless.