Deepa appears before chief secretary, opposes Jayalalithaa memorial plan

CHENNAI: After skipping two hearings, Deepa Jayakumar, Jayalalithaa’s niece on Monday appeared before the chief secretary to oppose the government’s plan to convert

Veda Nilayam

, the former CM’s residence into a

memorial

. The state government has granted her two weeks to make written submissions on her claims, after it was informed that as candidate for R K Nagar by-election, she would be busy.

The Madras high court has directed the state to hear her side, while disposing her petition challenging the memorial plan last month. “It is a property owned by my grandmother, Sandhya and passed on to her daughter, Jayalalithaa. We are legal heirs and the property should be handed over to us after removing some illegal inmates,” Deepa told reporters. She denied there was any will left by the former chief minister else it would have emerged by now. “I have the copy of the will left by my grandmother.”

Deepa raised doubts over the death of the former CM and said the evidence would have been destroyed due to extended stay of inmates after her demise. “I have raised various aspects for probe before justice A Arumughaswamy commission of inquiry. I am also seeking CBI probe,” she said.

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