Man seeks HC nod to allow observe hunger strike to get Jaya’s wills

CHENNAI: A 65-year-old man approached the Madras High Court with a strange plea for a direction to the Director General of Police to allow him to observe a hunger strike as a sign of protest against authorities who allegedly denied releasing the 'Wills' of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan on hearing the petition filed by D Soundararajan of Mangadu town directed the police to file their response On October 12.

According to the petitioner, when Jayalalithaa was alive she asked him to make 125 villas in the lands owned by the demised AIADMK general secretary in Mangadu, Karayanchavadi Anna Nagar, and Thiruverkadu.

In his affidavit, he said that as per the advice of Jayalalithaa, he received an advance amount to the tune of Rs 30 lakh from several people. He also noted that he paid the advance to the former chief minister through her assistant Ramesh. "However, Amma died in 2016 and I was unable to deliver the villas. Therefore, I was not in a position to return the money to the public,” the petitioner said.

He further claimed that when Jaya's close aide VK Sasikala was en route to Bengaluru upon her conviction in the DA Case in February 2017, she met him mid-way and said that Jaya had mentioned about the properties and the payment made by him in her wills.

“When Sasikala completed her jail term and returned to Chennai, I made several attempts to meet her. However, I am unable to meet her. Therefore, I made representations to authorities to disclose the wills of Jayalalithaa. As the officers are not releasing the wills of Jayalalithaa, I have decided to sit in an indefinite hunger strike near the Jayalalithaa’s memorial near Marina Beach” Soundararajan added.

He further noted that he sent a representation to the police seeking permission to observe the hunger strike and the police did not grant the permission.

Recording the submissions, the judge directed the police department to file its response explaining whether the petitioner had sent a representation or not.