Apollo hospital room where Jayalalithaa was admitted to be inspected

Chennai, Juy 14: The room at Apollo hospitals where late All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa was hospitalised in December 2016 will be inspected on July 29 by the counsel representing the one man panel probing her death and those from the side of her aide V K Sasikala.

Allowing an application from two lawyers representing the panel, seeking to visit the hospital, Justice Arumughaswamy, heading the one man commission, allowed them and two advocates from Sasikala's side to inspect the room on July 29.

Besides the room, the Emergency and ICCU units, the floors where government officers, ministers and Sasikala accessed the hospital premises are among the spots that will be inspected, according to commission sources.

The inspection is aimed at understanding the circumstances and correlate it with evidence furnished to the commission.

The move assumes significance since a video clip showing Jayalalithaa from her hospital bed was leaked last December. Such aspects are also expected to be verified during the counsel's visit proposed later this month.

The Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry was constituted by the Tamil Nadu government last year following suspicions raised by several quarters on her death.

The panel's terms of reference were to inquire into the circumstances and situation leading to the hospitalisation of Jayalalithaa on September 22, 2016, and treatment provided till her death on December 5 the same year.

The commission had invited all those having 'personal knowledge and direct acquaintance' in the matter to furnish information to it.

PTI