Chennai: J. Jayalalithaa’s niece J. Deepa said she was roughed up by private security guards when she tried to enter the late Tamil Nadu chief minister’s Veda Nilayam residence at Poes Garden on Sunday.
Deepa alleged that supporters of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran prevented her from entering the house.
Veda Nilayam was occupied by Jayalalithaa’s friend V.K. Sasikala after the chief minister’s death in December last year.
After Sasikala was jailed in a disproportionate assets case, her nephew Dhinakaran occasionally visited the house that is now guarded by private security.
On Sunday, Deepa, who was accompanied by her husband K. Madhavan, claimed that her brother J. Deepak had invited her to the residence to garland Jayalalithaa’s portrait.
“He (Deepak) insisted that I come. It is a conspiracy by Deepak and he is working as per Sasikala’s orders,” Deepa said.
A war of words ensued between Deepa and Deepak and she alleged that her brother had “conspired with Sasikala to kill” her aunt. “They are targeting my husband. There is a threat to his life,” she claimed.
Deepak denied his sister’s claims.
Journalists covering Deepa’s visit said that they too were roughed up by security guards at the Poes Garden residence and stopped from doing their work.
As tension prevailed, police presence was beefed up in the locality.
In February, Deepa floated a political outfit, MGR Amma Deepa Peravai. Two months later, her husband Madhavan, alleging that there was “dominance of some evil forces”, quit his wife’s outfit and formed a new party, MGR Jayalalithaa Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
She added that she has initiated legal proceedings to acquire the Veda Nilayam property which was owned by her aunt and grandmother.
Deepa alleged that her brother Deepak is close to Sasikala. “I have no connection with him. But he called me suddenly this morning and asked me to come to Poes Garden to do a pooja. I initially refused when he invited,” she said.