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Who lied about Jayalalithaa's health? RTI reply contradicts TN minister's claims

TTV Dinakaran on Monday said that Sasikala Natarajan had videos of Jayalalithaa in the hospital.

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A reply from the Tamil Nadu government under Right to Information act contradicts claims made by Forest Minister C Sreenivasan on Jayalalithaa's time in Apollo Hospital last year. While the minister claimed that the party, as well as the government, lied about Jayalalithaa's condition, the RTI reply claims that the then Chief Minister had met officials and oversaw meetings on Cauvery issue. Who really is lying to the people of Tamil Nadu has now become the big question.

Jayalalithaa

On Friday, Tamil Nadu minister Sreenivasan made startling claims about how none ever met Jayalalithaa in the hospital but lied about her improving health, consumption of food and interaction with officials. An RTI query acquired by a Bengaluru-based activist dated June 2017 contradicts the minister's statements.

"We never met Jayalalithaa in the hospital, all of us lied": TN minister says 'sorry'

Even as the debate over the truth about Jayalalithaa in Apollo rages on TTV Dinakaran on Monday claimed that videos of the late Chief Minister in the hospital have been recorded. "We have videos of Jayalalithaa watching TV in the hospital. We are willing to hand it over to the probe committee. Let a senior judge lead the investigations," TTV Dinakaran said. He added that Jayalalithaa was dressed informally and hence the video was not fit to be made public.

A letter of reply from Joint Secretary to Tamil Nadu government, P M Ambalavanan, dated June 16, 2017, details meetings that Jayalalithaa is said to have held with officials. "The late Chief Minister interacted with family and government officials on some important issues including the Cauvery issue. The late Chief Minister's clinical course deteriorated later and subsequently recovered substantially to being able to take food orally," the reply to an RTI query states.

This is in sheer contradiction to Sreenivasan's claims that nobody was allowed to meet J Jayalalithaa when she was at the Apollo hospital. He had alleged that the government, as well as the party, had lied about her health status and apologized to the people for lying.

The contradiction makes it clear that either the government of Tamil Nadu had lied in the RTI query or the minister was lying to the public. With many unanswered questions already raising suspicion over Jayalalithaa's death, the latest revelation from Sreenivasan only fuelled further speculation.

The reply to the RTI query also states that Jayalalithaa's recorded time of death was 11.30 PM. This is yet again a contradiction to O Panneerselvam's claim of Jayalalithaa passing away on the evening of December 5.

"No information, unless specified otherwise, can be denied under the RTI. If there is a delay in providing information under the RTI, a maximum penalty of Rs 20,000 can be imposed on the Public information officer. The same will apply to false information," said activist Narasimhamurthy. An advocate, Murthy had sought information regarding Jayalalithaa's health condition, medical expenses, the cost to the ex-chequer and details of doctors who treated her. He received a reply in June where information about her health was denied since the matter was 'private'.

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