Deepa and Deepak take possession of Jayalalitha's residence

Chennai: Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa's legal heirs, J. Deepa and her brother J. Deepak, took possession of her Poes Garden residence 'Veda Nilayam' on Friday, as Chennai District Collector, Dr. Vijayarani handed them the keys.

The residence of late Jayalalithaa was mired in a court case after the duo moved the Madras High Court on the decision against the AIADMK government under K. Palaniswami to convert 'Veda Nilayam' into a memorial for the late Chief Minister.

Deepa and Deepak, the children of Jayalalithaa's elder brother Jayakumar, in separate petitions, prayed that they were the legal heirs of Jayalalithaa and that the residence was rightfully theirs.

A bench of Justice N. Seshasayee, on November 25, ruled in their favour and directed the Chennai District Collector hand over possession to the rightful heirs, within three weeks of the ruling.

After Deepa and her husband Mahadevan, Deepak and other family members opened the gate of the residence and entered the house, an elated Deepa told media persons: "This is a great win for us. We have got a positive result after a long legal battle. AIADMK is a big political party and they have a lot more other things to do rather than focus on this and not fight for this home, but if they are for a fight, I can continue with the legal measures."

After the single bench had ruled in favour of Deepa and Deepak, the AIADMK, on December 1, had moved the high court challenging the ruling of the single bench.

Former Law Minister and Villupuram district secretary of the AIADMK, CVe Shanmughan moved the appeal and stated that the single bench order was erroneous and contrary to the settled proposition of law.

After the passing away of Jayalalithaa in 2016, the house was in the possession of her close aide and former interim general secretary of the AIADMK, V.K. Sasikala. However, she was jailed in a case related to the disproportionate assets and the house was taken over by the AIADMK led state government in 2020 which declared that the party was converting the 24,832 square feet residence into a memorial for Jayalalithaa.

This was challenged by her legal heirs and the single bench ruled in their favour, stating that the late Chief Minister already had a memorial at the Marina beach.