Bangalore: A special court in Bangalore today deferred its verdict in the 18-year-old Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa till 3 pm.
According to sources, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister told the court that the case was politically motivated, and intended to harass her. Trial court judge John Michael D’Cunha, who had directed all the accused to be present in his court on the judgement day, deferred the pronouncement of verdict.
Amid tight security, Jayalalithaa arrived in Bangalore this morning after flying in by a special aircraft at the HAL Airport along with the other accused — her close aide Sasikala Natarajan and Ilavarasi, the latter’s relative, and headed towards the court by road.
Sasikala’s nephew and Jayalalithaa’s disowned foster son Sudhakaran, is the fourth accused in the case in which the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has been charged with accumulating Rs 66.65 crore wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income from 1991-96 in her first term in office.
The case was transferred to Bangalore’s Special Court in 2003 by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by DMK leader K Anbazhagan who had expressed doubts over conduct of fair trial with Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister.
Jayalalithaa, who has waged many legal battles and seen several ups and downs in her political career, had to quit as the Chief Minister immediately after her swearing in 2001 following the Supreme Court declaring null and void the action of the then Governor Fatima Beevi appointing her as the Chief Minister as she had been sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case.
O Paneerselvan, a junior Minister in her Council of Ministers, was appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. By 2002, she was cleared of all charges and sworn-in again as the Chief Minister.
Bureau Report
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