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Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa terms ‘Veda Nilayam’ sale as rumour
More significantly, she directed her message to VK Sasikala, who lived there with Jayalalithaa for three decades, and her family that they shouldn’t be spreading such rumour.
After the Madras high court handed over possession of former chief minister (late) J Jayalalithaa’s posh residence to her niece J Deepa and nephew J Deepak last year, Deepa on Tuesday sought to quell rumour that they were selling the bungalow.
Deepa said she intended to move in there soon.
Significantly, she directed her message to VK Sasikala, who lived there with Jayalalithaa for three decades, and her family that they shouldn’t be spreading such rumour.
Jayalalithaa’s residence “Veda Nilayam” in Chennai’s posh Poes Garden has been a subject of fascination for the public.
Jayalalithaa had lived in the property that she purchased in the 60s until her death in December 2016. She died intestate. Deepa had said following Jayalalithaa’s death that she spent several days in the house.
“After a long legal battle, we got back Veda Nilayam which is our ancestral property,” Deepa says in an audio clip released on Tuesday.
“I condemn all these rumour. Whoever it may be, including those who say that they have been on the journey along with Amma (Jayalalithaa), such as Sasikala’s family members. I want to tell them and everyone that these are rumours. We never said that this house is for sale. No one has approached and neither are we in talks (for sale).”
According to the revenue department, the three-storey residence is on a ten-ground plot. Sasikala continued to live there after Jayalalithaa’s death and until she was imprisoned in a Bengaluru jail in February 2017. Upon her return, so much changed in the AIADMK that her loyalists turned against her.
The party, which was then governing Tamil Nadu, enacted a legislation in 2020 establishing a foundation for Jayalalithaa’s home to be turned into a memorial and stated that the property was acquired legally after depositing a compensation of ₹7.9 crore before the civil court in Chennai. It was a bid to prevent Sasikala from entering the house as she wanted to reclaim everything as it were, including her post in the party before she went to jail.
Deepa and her brother Deepak challenged the previous AIADMK government’s acquisition and conversion of her residence and received a favourable order when the Madras high court in November 2020 set aside the acquisition.
As per the high court’s direction, the Chennai district collector handed over the residence’s keys to Deepa and Deepak.
