Why can't we order exhumation of Jayalalithaa's body, asks Madras HC

CHENNAI: Why can’t we order exhumation of the body of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa , asked the Madras high court on Thursday and issued a notice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , state and central governments and others.Clearly not happy with the secrecy maintained by people around Jayalalithaa, who was declared to have died on December 5 after 75 days of hospitalisation, a vacation bench of the court said, "Even we have our doubts about that." Jayalalithaa was buried at the MGR memorial on the Marina Beach on December 6.The vacation bench comprising Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice Parthiban, hearing a PIL of AIADMK party worker PA Joseph, said: "We also saw in newspapers that the chief minister was recovering, and that she was eating, signing papers and even conducting meetings. And then suddenly she was dead."Pointing out that no revenue division officer (RDO) had seen the body, neither were there any medical records furnished, the bench asked, "Why not, at least after her death, some proof was given."The bench recalled a similar situation in the late 1980s when the then chief minister M G Ramachandran was taking treatment both in Chennai and in the United States."When MGR was taking treatment, the government released video of the chief minister," the bench said.Advocate general of Tamil Nadu R Muthukumaraswamy, however, said the first bench of the high court was hearing a similar PIL and it had been adjourned to January 4. Another PIL on the issue was coming up before the Supreme Court on Friday for hearing.The bench then issued notices to the Prime Minister and the state and central governments. It adjourned the case to January 9 for further hearing. Madhan a Gopala Rao accepted notice on behalf of the Centre.The PIL wants the high court to appoint a committee comprising three retired judges of the Supreme Court to go into the medical records relating to treatment given to Jayalalithaa.