Man claiming to be Jaya’s son surfaces

High Court warns him of jail, asks police to verify his records

A middle-aged man from Tamil Nadu Erode district, J Krishnamoorthy, has approached the Madras High Court claiming that he was born in 1985 in Bengaluru to late actress-turned-Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and late Telugu film star Shoban Babu. The two actors were at one point known to be close friends. The man, claiming threat from jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala and her family members, sought police protection.

However, doubting his claim, the court warned him on Friday that he could be jailed and asked the police to verify his records.

“I can send you straightaway to jail,” Justice Mahadevan cautioned Krishnamoorthy, who appeared as party-in-person to argue the maintainability of his petition.

Krishnamurthy claimed that Jayalalithaa and Shoban Babu had separated in the 1980s owing to personal differences and hence he was given in adoption to a couple in Tamil Nadu and that the late Chief Minister M G Ramachandran (MGR) had signed as a witness in the adoption deed. He said even after being given in adoption, he frequently met Jayalalithaa.

In September last year when he went to Poes Garden, Jayalalithaa wanted to introduce him as her son. The petitioner claimed that this angered Sasikala who quarrelled with Jayalalithaa. Subsequently, Jayalalithaa was admitted to hospital and she died in December. Claiming to have escaped from Sasikala’s illegal custody, he knocked on the doors of the court.