Chennai: Tamil Nadu Health Secretary Dr J Radhakrishnan on Friday appeared before the Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, which is probing the circumstances leading to the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016.
The panel, constituted by the government in September 2017 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, had earlier summoned Dr Radhakrishnan to appear before it. “I had answered the queries raised by the Commission, including from the admission (of J Jayalalithaa). It will not be appropriate for me to comment now,” Radhakrishnan told reporters.
He said the inquiry would continue and he was asked to appear before the Commission again on December 18. “This (inquiry) will continue. I have assured to appear before it on Tuesday (December 18),” he said.
The Commission had on Thursday summoned Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to appear before it on December 20. Panneerselvam, who had held the portfolios of late Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation in 2016, was among the first to raise serious doubts over the treatment and demise of Jayalalithaa. He would appear before the panel after Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, who was directed by the panel to appear on December 18.
Senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan and police officer Sudhakar, who was part of Jayalalithaa’s security team, have also been summoned to appear on December 18 and 20, respectively.
The government had notified the constitution of the panel soon after the unification of the factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam in August 2017.
