Apollo doctor corroborates Jayalalitha's audio clip at probe panel

A recording of Jayalalithaa’s voice (her last known voice recording), telling a doctor that her blood pressure of 140/80 was normal for her, was made available to the media by the commission in May this year.

The two doctors were among nine people, including nurses and a technician of the Apollo Hospital, who deposed before the panel for cross-examination. Pandian replied in the affirmative when asked if Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who held the portfolios of Jayalalithaa during her hospitalisation, health Minister C Vijayabaskar and the Health Secretary would be cross-examined.

The counsel said he expected the panel to first summon them as its witnesses. If it did not do so, his side would require their appearance, he said.

In September 2017, the state government had constituted the probe panel under the Commissions of Inquiry Act,  it to inquire into the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation on September 22, 2016, and treatment provided by the hospital till her demise.

The commission, whose term has been twice extended since then, had invited all those having “personal knowledge and direct acquaintance” to furnish information related to her. Several persons, including present Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his followers, had earlier raised suspicions about the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa’s death.