Jayalalithaa acquitted in DA case, may take oath as TN CM on May 17

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, 11 May 2015: Karnataka High Court today acquitted former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case.

Pronouncing the verdict, single-judge bench of Justice CR Kumaraswamy said all the charges on which Jayalalithaa was convicted and sentenced by the trial court were not sustainable and upheld her appeal.

Besides Jayalaithaa, All three other accused Sasikala Natarajan, her nephew VN Sudhakaran and her aunt J Ellavarsi were also acquitted by the court.

The acquittal will pave the way for return of Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

The meeting of AIADMK legislature party has been called tomorrow. The current Chief Minister O Paneerselvam is expected to submit his resignation before the legislature party meet.

According to sources, Jayalalithaa may take oath as new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on May 17.

A trial court, headed by special judge John Michael D’Cunha, had on September 27, 2014 convicted and sentenced Jayalalithaa and her three accomplices to a four-year jail term in the Rs 66.65 crore illegal assets case that dragged on for 18 years.

The Supreme Court had on October 17 last year granted interim bail till December 18 to the 67-year-old Jayalalithaa and her three co-convicts. Their bail was subsequently extended till May 12.

The general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK had also spent three weeks in the central jail on the city’s outskirts after the High Court rejected her bail petition.

The case was transferred to the Bangalore Special Court by the Supreme Court in 2003 on a plea by DMK, which claimed a fair trial cannot be held in Chennai as the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK government was in power.