Jayalalithaa's death: Supreme Court stays inquiry commission proceedings over Apollo’s plea

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the proceedings of an inquiry commission set up to probe the death of then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai in 2016. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was hearing the appeal of Apollo Hospitals against the April 4 order of the Madras High Court rejecting its objection against the ongoing inquiry into the death of the AIADMK leader at the hospital.

"Notice. Stay of further proceedings of the inquiry commission," the bench, which also comprised Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said. The AIADMK-led state government had set up the inquiry commission to look into the circumstances leading to the death of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016 at Apollo Hospitals.

It's been two years since Jayalalithaa left the world, but some of the mysteries surrounding her death are still unsolved. The late Tamil Nadu chief minister was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Chennai on complaints ‘fever and dehydration’. After days of treatment, the hospital said that the health of the AIADMK leader has improved and she will soon be discharged.

However, her condition deteriorated dramatically, and she suffered a massive cardiac arrest in presence of a medical professional. The doctors gave her ECMO and waited for 24 hours as per the standard practice, according to Dr Richard Beale, the consultant intensivist from the London Bridge Hospital, who visited Jayalalithaa thrice during her treatment.

What still baffles to may is that how Jayalalithaa’s ‘fever and dehydration’ escalated to her death even as she was admitted to a top-notch hospital and was under observation of medical experts from both India and abroad. Several reports claimed that she was collapsed after being pushed at her Poes Garden residence in Chennai, leading to her hospitalisation.