CHENNAI: The audio recording which purportedly contained the last recorded voice of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa is authentic, Dr Archana from Apollo Hospitals said during her cross-examination at the Arumughaswamy commission.This was revealed by Raja Senthoor Pandian, counsel for V K Sasikala, Jayalalithaa’s close aide, at a press meet on Monday evening.The audio was released in March by an official of the commission which has been tasked with probing the circumstances surrounding the hospitalisation and death of Jayalalithaa in 2016. The audio has voices of Jayalalithaa, Dr Sivakumar and Dr Archana, with the latter reading out blood pressure of 140 to which Jayalalithaa replies that it is normal for her.However, Archana during her cross-examination said the commission’s lawyers did not probe about the audio or whether one of the voices in the audio belonged to her, Pandian said. “We brought it out in the cross-examination,” Pandian said. Nine witnesses who consisted of doctors and nurses from Apollo were cross-examined on Monday.The audio from a pendrive was played three times during the cross-examination.Sources said the first mention of the audio was made by Dr KS Sivakumar in March.Nurse Snehashree during her cross-examination said Jayalalithaa was conscious when she went to see her on September 22, 2016, before being admitted to Apollo, Pandian said. She even slapped away a needle, Pandian said. The nurse also said Jayalalithaa did not have any external trauma injuries on that night, Pandian added.On the evening of December 4, 2016, Jayalalithaa developed sudden breathing problems when doctors rushed in and tried their best. Sasikala at that time kept telling Jayalalithaa not to get upset and things would get better, Snehashree was quoted as saying in the cross examination, Pandian said.

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