Was Jayalalithaa murdered? 7 conspiracies around Amma's death

CHENNAI: After spending 72 days in Apollo Hospital, J Jayalalithaa breathed her last on December 5, 2016. A year has passed since, but the conspiracies around the former AIADMK chief's death are still going strong.

Over the year, several theories have been fielded over her demise with many claiming that her death was not natural and that she was in fact killed.

Here are some of the conspiracies that have been spoken of in the past year:

Utmost secrecy: She spent 72 days in the hospital out of which for 65 days, the hospital kept saying that the AIADMK leader was recovering well. There were many party leaders and politicians from other parties who came to meet her but no one was allowed to get a glimpse of the actor-turned-politician.

There was no clear information about her health and about her recovery since the time she was admitted. The regular health updates that were released also did not have any clear details. Popular actor Gautami Tadimalla had even written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising questions about the secrecy that was maintained and the “blanketing of information”.

She was poisoned: A report by Tehelka magazine in 2012 had alleged that Jayalalithaa was slow poisoned. The report had alleged that she was given sedatives and chemical substances with small amounts of poison. It also alleged that this was plotted by jaya's close aide VK Sasikala and was executed by a nurse appointed by her.

She was pushed: Calling for a probe, former Tamil Nadu assembly Speaker PH Pandian had alleged that Jayalalithaa was pushed and fell over on September 22 following an argument with someone at her residence at Poes Garden in Chennai. He also claimed that Jayalalithaa was taken to the hospital to cover it up.

"It was about some happening with the other side’s family (Sasikala’s family) and Jayalalithaa and she was pushed down. She fell down and she became unconscious," Pandian alleged.

Power tussle: Pandian had also alleged that within 20 days of Jayalalithaa's death, party leaders were ‘made to say’ that they wanted Sasikala to be the party chief.' Sasikala had always been accused of trying to remain in the close circuit of Jayalalithaa. 

Questions were also raised over how Sasikala got a makeover to look like Jayalalithaa. It is learnt that she had told Jaya that she will never seek a political position and will never be in touch with her family members, a promise that she broke as soon as the AIADMK leader fell ill.

Mysterious marks on her face: At the time when Jayalalithaa's body was kept at her residence for people to pay their last respects, four marks were noted on her cheeks. The suspicion had raised several eyebrows forcing Dr Richard Beale, the doctor who treated her, to come out in the open to clarify those marks. 

He had said: "Critically ill patients can have some marks in cheeks. It is absolutely not a normal practice to photograph people who are critically ill." However, he also said that there was no CCTV footage of Jayalalithaa getting treated.

Signatures on blank papers: When Jayalalithaa died, reports suggested that a “midnight coup” was brought into action. As per an NDTV report, Sasikala had asked all party ministers to sign three blank A-4 pages. They were not given any details about how those papers will be used but as everyone knew how close she had been with Amma, no questions were asked keeping the sensitive situation in mind.

Wrong medication: A leaked email by a senior journalist had quotes of the Apollo management where it said that Jayalalithaa was on "wrong diabetes medicines" before she was admitted to the hospital in September.