The high profile Income Tax raids in Chennai on April 7 at health minister Dr C Vijaya BBhaskar’s house have spilled links to what happened inside Apollo hospitals when Jayalalithaa was admitted for treatment from September 22 to December 5, 2016 and the money transactions associated with it.
The payout list leaked to the media by the Income Tax department after the raids on April 7 and subsequently, after the enquiries with Vijaya Bhaskar, reveals the money distributed to several VIPs in the state right from Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami to the well-known doctor who acknowledged Jayalalithaa’s thumb impression during her hospitalisation last year.
The inquisitive name in the list of payees in the documents seized was Dr P Balaji. “Given to Dr Balaji for expenses—HM (home minister) instructions—Rs 5 lakh," it read. This entry has raised eyebrows as to why a government doctor’s name was in the payout list of the health minister and if the doctor had actually taken money from him.
Dr Balaji, Professor of Minimal Access Surgery at Madras Medical College, came into the picture when he attested Jayalalithaa’s thumb impression in Form B that was submitted to the Election Commission in November 2016, for bypolls to Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies.
In his statement then, Balaji had certified: "Since the signatory has undergone tracheostomy and has an inflamed right hand, she is temporarily unable to affix her signature. Hence, she has affixed her left thumb impression on her own in my presence.”
Balaji had also written the same in the document he certified and sent to the Election Commission. Apparently, the date mentioned in the payout list records November 1, 2016, which is just three days after Dr Balaji had got the attestation.
Though the doctor in his statement had refuted to have taken any money for his services, he accepted in an interview to a Tamil newspaper that he had taken money but to settle Dr Richard Beale’s hotel bills at Taj Coromandel in Chennai.
He said Dr Beale was supposed to stay at Rain Tree hotel, booked by Apollo. “He was not willing to stay there and wanted to be moved to Taj Coromandel. Apollo was not willing to get Dr Beale moved as the price was high and so health minister Vijaya Bhaskar agreed to pay and came into the scene. So, hotel bills of Dr Beale were directly settled by the minister’s personal assistant,” he told the newspaper.
He further said the bills at Taj Coromandel could also be verified if anyone needs proof of Dr Beale’s hotel expenses and who paid it. However, in that case, a curious question arises about the hospital's claim of settling Dr Beale’s hotel bill, during his stay at Taj Coromandel.
Interestingly, these questions and the murky dealings mentioned in the payout list seized from Vijaya Bhaskar’s house have thrown much light into the mysterious days of Jayalalithaa’s hospitalisation. If sources from the Madras Medical College are to be believed, Dr Balalji had always been health minister’s favourite, which is why he was one among the panel of government doctors constituted to monitor Jayalaithaa’s health.
Apparently, Balaji headed the committee formed with the concurrence of Vijaya Bhaskar and other top leaders in the AIADMK. Though his specialisation was in laproscopy, which had nothing to do with the illness of Jayalalithaa, he was allowed to head the five-member team that had not given out any reports on Jayalalithaa’s health till date.
In fact, even when health secretary J. Radhakrishnan, whose houses were also raided by the Income Tax sleuths on April 7, had put in much efforts to bring out Jayalalithaa’s health report issued by the team of AIIMS doctors, it was surprising that he did not ask the state government’s doctor team to speak on this.
Also, a few days after the attestation and submission of Form B, Dr Balaji was elevated as the member secretary of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu. Popularly known as TRANSTAN, this government agency is the key to organ transplants as it monitors and regulates the organ and cadaver transplants in the state.
These transplants are mostly done through private hospitals and as per the data available with the state government, Tamil Nadu leads in cadaver transplants. Moreover, TRANSTAN is the most regulated body in India when it comes to organ transplants.
It is in this context that Chennai-based NGO Change India had petitioned Tamil Nadu governor Dr Vidyasagar Rao against Dr Balaji’s appointment. It had alleged that the appointment reeked nepotism and favouritism. “It is pertinent to note that Dr P Balaji possesses no knowledge about organ transplant and cadaver transplant, and his appointment reeks of nepotism, favouritism and no proper procedure was followed by the health minister and health secretary in appointing him,” says Change India’s director Paadam A Narayanan in his petition.
He further claimed in the petition that Dr Balaji was just an assistant surgeon at the government-run Stanley Medical College and promoted as professor in Dharmapuri Medical College. Subsequently, he was brought to the Madras Medical College and a special department called ‘Minimal Access surgery’ was created to accommodate him, overlooking several senior surgeons. This, the petition alleged, was only to assist the health minister in his dealings.
In fact, the whole drama enacted by M.G.R. Medical University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr S. Geetha Lakshmi in the course of IT officials' summons and her appearance before them on Wednesday after the high court dismissed her plea, had raised eyebrows. Geetha Lakshmi was appointed to the post only in December 2015. Reportedly, she was one among the VCs who had called V.K. Sasikala soon after Jayalalithaa's demise and had advised her to take over the reins of the state.
While the top leader of the state Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami has not spoken about the raids or the probe held by the IT department in his cabinet member’s residence, sources in the state secretariat said the entire political set up is shaken post the incident. In fact, the chief minister's name also figures in the payout list for R.K. Nagar cash for votes, seized from Vijaya Bhaskar's house.
Moreover, the state government, after the trust vote on February 18 and passing of the budget in March, has once again slipped into a pause mode, similar to how it was during Jayalalithaa’s days of hospitalisation. Apparently, there are not any new policy decisions or new schemes announced by the government. In fact, Palanisami’s silence, according to people close to him, is because his statements on this could bring out more skeletons on board from his side, which would only bring more discredit to the already unpopular AIADMK government.