Ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala’s nephew Vivek Jayaraman issued a statement warning that legal action will be taken against those who spread lies and cast aspersions on former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's personal life and character.
"Some people have been spreading heartless opinions about her personal life. In a manner so as to bring disrepute to her image, people have been claiming to be her daughter and having done this and that. This is deserving of punishment," said the CEO of Jazz Cinemas and MD of Jaya Television Network.
Vivek’s statement comes on the back of a Bengaluru-based woman named Amrutha moving the Supreme Court, claiming to the Jayalalithaa’s biological daughter and seeking a DNA test to prove the same.
In his statement on Tuesday, Vivek goes onto say they had been patient when such sensationalist talk was going at the time of her death. But, even after a year, this has not stopped. He further adds, "Even a year after her death, these people are spinning stories without any evidence as per their own liking."
Jayalilathaa's niece Deepa had also issued a similar statement in early December threatening legal action against those claiming to be Jayalalithaa's daughter.
In Amrutha’s petition filed before the Supreme Court in November, she says she was brought up as the daughter of Jayalalithaa’s late sister Shylaja and that it was only after the former CM’s demise that she came to know through her aunts – LS Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranath – that she is Jayalalithaa’s biological daughter. Lalitha and Ranjani are related to Jayalalithaa, according to Amrutha.
However, as per records, Jayalalithaa has only one sibling, a brother named Jayakumar. Shylaja’s claim that she was a sister had been contested by other members of the family.
The apex court, however, declined to entertain her petition, and urged her to approach the Madras High Court instead.
Amrutha, however, isn’t the only one to claim to be Jayalalithaa’s child. Three months after her death, a man named Krishnamurthy, who is a resident of Erode, filed a writ petition before the Madras High Court. He said that he was the only son of the late Chief Minister.
His father, he claimed was the late actor Shoban Babu. He also claimed that Jayalalithaa had planned to introduce him to the public as her son between September 14-18, 2016 but that Sasikala was allegedly against this move.
Alleging that he was forcefully kept away from Jayalalithaa’s funeral, Krishnamurthy states in his petition, "On the instigation of TTV Dinakaran, some unidentified persons kidnapped me and kept me in their custody at the Sirthavur bungalow and tortured me. Thereafter. I escaped from there with the help of the watchmen of that bungalow."
His claims were suspicious and image he provided as evidence of his relationship with Jayalalithaa, clearly photoshopped.
The Madras High Court, however, slammed him for lying and wasting the court’s time and ordered the police to arrest him.