Jaya probe panel summons Manoj Pandian

The ex-MP is the first AIADMK leader to have been summoned

Manoj Pandian

The Commission of Inquiry probing former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s death on Wednesday summoned AIADMK leader Paul Manoj Pandian.

Mr. Pandian, a former AIADMK MP, has been asked to appear before the panel on February 21.

He is the first AIADMK leader to have been summoned by the Justice A. Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry.

Mr. Pandian and his father P.H. Pandian, a former Assembly Speaker, had on February 7, 2017, addressed a press conference during which they raised suspicion over the circumstances surrounding the former Chief Minister’s death.

List of employees

The Commission also issued summons to Jayalalithaa’s cook Rajammal and driver Ayyappan. They have been asked to appear on February 21 and 23 respectively. Their names figured on a list of 31 persons who were employed by Jayalalithaa. The list was submitted by the former CM’s assistant S. Poongundran. Six of the 31 persons no longer work at the Veda Nilayam, the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa.

Meanwhile, Dr. P. Balaji, the incumbent member-secretary of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu, who attested Jayalalithaa’s thumb impression on October 27, 2016, deposed before the Commission on Wednesday.

This was Dr. Balaji’s third day of deposition before the Commission. “The judge asked about some of the medical records of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa; I answered....As of now, it does not look like I will be asked to come back,” he told reporters later.

A Commission source also said that V.K. Sasikala’s legal team had requested copies of all the 28 sworn affidavits, 144 petitions and 302 complaints received by the Commission over time. The Commission intends to provide those documents in a few days’ time.