In a big blow to AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala Natarajan’s political ambitions, the Supreme Court today convicted her in the Disproportionate Assets Case, in which late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa was also accused.
The Supreme Court ordering to restore trail court order, has directed her to surrender before the trail court immediately. The two judges’ bench has set aside the High Court order and upheld the charges framed by the trail court. However both the judges, Justice Amitab Roy and Justice Pinakini Ghosh have given different reasons for their judgement.
After more than seven months of completion of arguments, the bench said that the prosecution succeeded in proving all charges. This judgement indicating an end to political ambition of Sasikala and may give scope to trigger of many options among AIADMK MLAs.
The verdict comes in the backdrop of the ongoing power struggle within the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu between Ms Sasikala and the caretaker chief minister O.Panneerselvam.
Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi were accused of allegedly amassing disproportionate asserts to the tune of Rs. 66.65 crore during her first term as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996. They were also held guilty by the trial court and sentenced to four years with a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.
The Karnataka High Court had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo’s conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 last year order, claimed that HC had erred in computing disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader. The Karnataka government also asked whether the high court had “erred in law” by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of ten per cent.
The state government had also claimed that the high court has erred in overruling preliminary objections raised by it and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party. The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 crore.
