Months after a woman from Bengaluru moved the Madras High Court, claiming to be the daughter of Jayalalithaa, the Tamil Nadu government has submitted ‘video evidence’ that the late Chief Minister had never been pregnant.

Tamil Nadu Advocate General Vijay Narayan played an old video clipping- of Jayalalithaa at the 1980 Filmfare Awards- to Justice Vaidyanathan to ‘prove’ that the former Chief Minister had not been pregnant at the time Amrutha Sarathy claims to have been born.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the AG reportedly said, "This was filmed just a month before the birth of Amrutha and the court can see that there are no signs of pregnancy."

Though there is a video on YouTube of the Filmfare Awards 1980, it only shows Jayalalithaa for a split second. However a source in the magazine told TNM that perhaps the government got more footage from Doordarshan which used to telecast the awards then.

Soon after Jayalalithaa’s death, Amrutha Sarathy, a woman from Bengaluru came forward, identifying herself as Jayalalithaa’s daughter.

In December last year, the Madras High Court decided to entertain a petition submitted by Amrutha Sarathy, who had approached the court asking for a DNA test to be conducted to validate her claim. She has also asked that Jayalalithaa’s body be exhumed and cremated as per Brahmin rituals.

In her petition to the Court, Amrutha stated that she was born on August 14, 1980, at Jayalalithaa’s Mylapore residence in Chennai. According to her, soon after her birth, an "understanding” was arrived at between Jayalalithaa and the family members that her birth would not be disclosed, to “uphold the dignity of the family as they belong to a very religious, orthodox and cultured Brahmin family” and her birth would come as a shock to everyone.

On Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government argued that Amrutha Sarathy is after Jayalalithaa’s properties.

Making her case, Amrutha Sarathy’s lawyer had cited the ND Tiwari case where the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was asked to undergo DNA test.

According to one report in DTNext, senior counsel V Prakash, appearing for Amrutha argued that the state should have no reason to refrain from DNA since it would clearly establish facts. As an alternative, the counsel also proposed that the test should at least be done on Deepa, Jayalalithaa's niece and checked with the female lineage of Amrutha's family.

In February, Deepak Jayaraman, Jayalalithaa’s nephew, had accused Amrutha Sarathy of fabricating claims in order to get Jayalalithaa’s properties.

Deepak’s counsel argued that Amrutha was 37 years and hence, should have had some identity proof if her claims were true.

Justice Vaidyanathan, who remarked that everything in the case was a question mark, posted the matter for further hearing the following week.