High drama at Poes Garden as Deepa Jayakumar tries to enter Jayalalithaa's bungalow

Deepa Jayakumar and her supporters are arguing with the police.

Deepa Jayakumar attempted to enter the Veda Nilayam bungalow of her late aunt and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Poes Garden on Sunday.

High drama unfolded at the ‘Veda Nilayam’ bungalow of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in Poes Garden on Sunday morning as her niece Deepa, who had gone there at the invitation of her brother Deepak, was denied entry beyond the porch. While Mr. Deepak too was denied entry, he left following a commotion over an assault of a news television channel crew, whom he had invited to the house.

Heavy security

A heavy posse of police was posted at Poes Garden after Ms. Deepa alleged that Mr. Deepak had invited her to the house with an ulterior motive and that guards posted at the bungalow denied her entry into the house.

Heavy posse of policemen are seen outside the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden bungalow, in Chennai on Sunday.

 

According to eyewitnesses, around 10 a.m., Ms. Deepa and Mr. Deepak drove into Veda Nilayam in their respective cars and were about to pay floral tributes to the portrait of Jayalalithaa placed near the porch when some private security guards sought to stop them.

Even as the siblings were engaged in a “heated argument” with them, some men clad in safari suits allegedly beat up a television channel crew who were invited by Mr. Deepak. Mr. Sanjeevee Sadagopan, a journalist who was beaten up, alleged that the attack took place in the presence of policemen.

Ms. Deepa told policemen who came to the scene that but for the television crew, the guards would have assaulted her too.

Accusing Mr. Deepak of joining hands with jailed AIADMK (Amma) leader V.K. Sasikala, she charged that the two were responsible for her aunt’s death.