The late CM Jayalalithaa’s death after getting admitted to one of Chennai’s well-known Apollo Hospital should be investigated, a former judge has concluded in a lengthy report of 608 pages which slammed at least one top government official and VK Sasikala, a close associate of J. Jayalalithaa.

An investigation headed by former Madras High Court judge Justice A Arumughaswamy was tabled in 2017 when Late CM Jayalalithaa’s party, the AIADMK, governed Tamil Nadu to sift through conspiracy theories, conflicting accounts of Jayalalithaa’s illness and treatment at Apollo Hospital, and legal claims. When the DMK took charge of the state in 2021, it reassured its poll promise that it would ensure the situation leading to Jayalalithaa’s death was investigated in detail.

Justice A Arumughaswamy presented a 608-page investigation report in the Legislative assembly today. It claims that the top bureaucrat at the time of Jayalalithaa’s death, Chief Secretary Dr Rama Mohana Rao, is responsible for criminal actions. The report also makes strong observations against the former Health Minister Vijaya Baskar and says Apollo Chairman Dr Pratap Reddy made false statements on Jayalalithaa’s condition.

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Last year, Apollo appealed Supreme Court to exempt it from the inquiry, claiming the ex-judge bias and not competent to handle medical issues. Even the Supreme Court stayed the commission until it constituted a medical board.

AIADMK top leaders O Panneerselvam, Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa and her nephew Deepak claimed that the politician died under mysterious circumstances. Apollo Hospital doctors testified that the treatment was provided through video conference with specialists at Delhi AIIMS.