New Delhi: Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on a batch of petitions challenging her acquittal in disproportionate case. A bench headed by Justice PC Ghose agreed to hear petitions challenging Karnataka high court verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa and her associates in the case in which a trial court had sentenced her to four years in jail.
The petitioners including Karnataka contended that the HC had undervalued properties owned by the Tamil Nadu chief minister and committed a mathematical error while calculating her income from her various ventures including agricultural income and the loan taken by her from nationalized banks.
The state government in its petition alleged that if the error committed by the HC was rectified, then the percentage of her disproportionate assets would be 34.50%, which was erroneously fixed at 8.12% by the court. The HC had held that Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets was around Rs2.82 crore against the prosecution claim of Rs 66.5 crore and acquitted her on the ground that it was less than 10 percent of the income and the offence was not made out.
A special court in Bangalore had convicted Jayalalithaa for amassing wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income during her first term as chief minister in 1991-96 . The court sentenced her to four years imprisonment and directed her to pay a fine of Rs 100 crore. Three of her associates — V K Sasikala, her disowned foster son V N Sudhakaran and J Illavarasi — were also convicted. Their conviction was set aside by the HC. The Karnataka govt has also challenged acquittal of her associates in SC.
Bureau Report
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