The Arumughaswamy commission, which is probing the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa seems to have hit a roadblock, with Apollo Hospitals saying that will not be able to provide CCTV footage of the former Chief Minister’s time in hospital. The hospital's legal manager and the commission argued over the preservation of footage on Friday, reported the Times of India.
The commission reportedly questioned why the hospital did not possess the required footage despite a pending legal case. In response, the hospital's legal manager Mohankumar stated that the hospital did not receive any directive from the police or the courts about preserving the footage, until the commission's letter arrived on September 6.
The commission then reportedly pointed out that there were two pending cases in the matter in 2016, and that should have been reason enough to preserve footage. But the hospital argued that both cases, the Madras High Court disallowed the release of any information.
"The CCTV recordings get overwritten automatically after 30 days. This information was shared with the commission on 11 September," Maimoona Badsha, counsel for Apollo Hospitals, told the media last week. He maintained that this was the policy followed across all of their hospitals in the country.
The hospital had informed the commission that would be unable to submit the requested footage as it pertains to the period when Jayalalithaa was in the hospital — between September 22, 2016, and December 5, 2016 — which is beyond the time period for which Apollo Hospital stores its CCTV footage.
On September 7, Subbiah Viswanathan, the COO of Apollo Hospitals, appeared before the commission. He claimed that all CCTV cameras were working and were switched off on the request of a government official.
In addition to the arguments on the CCTV footage, Apollo also confirmed that Jayalalithaa's toes and legs were not amputated. VK Sasikala's advocate Raja Senthoor Pandian, conducted a cross-examination of a radiologist from Apollo to prove the same.
(With inputs from IANS)