Chennai: At a time when there is a bitter legal battle among the AIADMK factions to claim Jayalalithaa's political legacy, a new claimant to her estate has knocked the doors of Madras High Court. The late Chief Minister's stepbrother, NJ Vasudevan, has claimed that he too is an heir for her assets and properties.
Already, the High Court has decreed Jayalalithaa's niece, J Deepa, and nephew, J Deepak, as legal heirs to her properties. In its verdict, a Division Bench had in May 2020 said that the two are the legal heirs under Section 15(2) (a) of the Hindu Succession Act 1956. Further, as the legal heirs, the duo, siblings of Jayalaltihaa's brother Jayakumar, have been made respondents in three cases filed by the Income Tax Department against the deceased AIADMK supremo.
In a new twist, octogenarian Vasudevan, submitted in his petition that he is the son of Jayamma, the first wife of Jayaram, while Jayalalithaa and two of her siblings, Jayakumar and Shailaja, were born to the second wife Vedavalli @ Sandhya. But, Jayalalithaa had stayed away from Vasudevan and Shailaja, who lived in Bengaluru. She had not only disowned them but had even filed a defamation suit in a Sessions court in Chennai when they went public about their relationship.
Citing the Covid lockdown and heart ailment as the reasons for the inordinate delay in filing the petition, he submitted that the delay be condoned. As early as in 1950, his mother in her maintenance lawsuit in a Mysore court against Jayaram had made Jayalalithaa too as a respondent, he said and contended that as per the Hindu Succession Act, he is entitled as an heir to the assets of the deceased.
Vasudevan's grandfather, N Rangachar was a palace doctor in the court of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and he is now getting a pension from the Karnataka government, which is not even sufficient for medical expenses. The Master Court, dealing with the disputes over estates of a deceased among other things, had directed Deepa and Deepak to respond and posted the matter to February 20.
Despite being disowned, Vasudevan had prayed for Jayalalithaa's acquittal in the Disproportionate Assets case in which she was convicted by the trial court in Bengaluru. At that time, he was glued to the television hoping that she would win the legal battle. He was also proud of her accomplishments as Chief Minister.
Five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa had died on December 5, 2016 after 75 days of hospitalisation. Efforts of the AIADMK government of Edappadi K Palaniswami to convert her palatial 'Vedha Illam' in the posh Poes Garden in Chennai, proved futile as the Court had quashed the decision and handed over the property to Deepaand Deepak.
