The Madras HC on Friday issued notice to Apollo Hospitals on an application filed by S Amrutha, who claimed to be the biological daughter of the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa.
Amrutha filed a fresh application as she submitted that she had not received a reply to her earlier notice to Apollo Hospitals seeking to know if it was preserving the biological samples of Jayalalithaa.
As the matter came up for hearing Justice S Vaidyanathan, Advocate-General Vijay Narayan said that the plea had brought an issue that was over 30 years old back into focus.
Requesting for more time, he said that the issue was under investigation and the records of the last 30 years were being verified.
The matter has been posted to March 7 for further hearing.
Amrutha’s main demand is for a directive to be issued to Greater Chennai Commissioner and Chief Secretary to consider her plea dated December 9 last year, to allow the family members of Jayalalithaa to cremate her as per the rites and rituals of Vaishnava Iyengar Brahmin community.
The petitioner’s counsel contended that for the purpose of conducting a DNA test, Jayalalithaa’s biological samples were needed but as there was no response from Apollo Hospitals, Amrutha had to file the present application in court.
Meanwhile, Deepak and his sister Deepa - the son and daughter of Jayalalithaa’s brother Jayaraman, have already filed counter-affidavits claiming that Amrutha’s petition was a concoction of lies.
Deepak Jayaraman has accused Amrutha of fabricating claims in order to get Jayalalithaa’s properties.
AIADMK Karnataka unit secretary Pugazhenthi and a partyman PA Joseph have also impleaded themselves in the case to disprove Amritha’s claim.
In her original petition, Amrutha claimed she was brought up as the daughter of Jayalalithaa’s late sister Shylaja and that it was only after the former CM’s demise that she came to know through her aunts – LS Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranath – that she is Jayalalithaa’s biological daughter. Lalitha and Ranjani are related to Jayalalithaa, Amrutha further claimed.