Supreme Court to hear woman's plea to exhume Jayalalithaa's body

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Monday, a writ petition from a woman Amrutha alias Manjula, claiming to be the biological daughter of former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa, seeking DNA test to substantiate her claim.

People from Tamil Nadu and across the country believe that Jayalalithaa was a spinster and the present petition which also seeks a direction for exhuming the body, buried on the shores of Marina beach in December 2016 to be cremated as per Hindu tradition is bound to create ripples in Tamil Nadu.

The Bangalore based woman along with two other elder cousins L.S. Lalitha and Ranjani Ravindranatha has sought the Supreme Court intervention as her efforts to meet Jayalalithaa during her life time were in vain. This was because Ms Sasikala’s family prevented such a meeting, she said.

She was also not allowed to attend the burial ceremony. She submitted that she had made representations to the President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CBI, judges of the apex court but she could not get any justice. Hence she is seeking redressal from the court.

Explaining her relationship, Ms Amrutha said her adoptive mother Shylaja, sister of Ms. Jayalalithaa died in 2015 while her adoptive father Sarathy died on March 20 this year.

They had adopted her as they did not have a child. Before his death, his father had confessed to her she is the biological daughter of Jayalalithaa and her birth and adoption were kept the secret to uphold the family’s dignity.

She said she was born in Mylapore on August 14, 1980 where Shylaja was residing.

According to her, she grew up as Shylaja’s daughter and it was only after the death of  Jayalalithaa that she came to know the true story through her cousins (co-petitioners in the case) and close family members.

She asserted that it was decided by the family members that her birth from the unwed mother will be kept as a secret.