Disproportionate Asset case against Jayalalithaa

Disproportionate Assets case against Jayalalithaa

File picture of Jayalalithaa
Date 14 June 1996 (1996-06-14)
Location Chennai
Participants J.Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi, ranjith kumar
Charges Misuse of office, Disproportionate assets, Criminal conspiracy, Corruption
Verdict High Court: Acquitted of all charges, bail bonds discharged. Trial Court: 4 years simple imprisonment for all four, a fine of ₹100 crore for Jayalalithaa and ₹10 crores for the other three
Convictions High Court: none; Trial Court: 4.
Litigation 18 years

Jayalalithaa Jayaram (born 24 February 1948), commonly referred to as Jayalalithaa, is an Indian politician who is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu convicted for misusing her office during her tenure of 1991-96 to amass properties worth ₹66.65 crores.[1] The assets under the purview of the case are the farm houses and bungalows in Chennai, agricultural land in Tamil Nadu, a farm house in Hyderabad, a tea estate in the Nilgiris, valuable jewelry, industrial sheds, cash deposits and investments in banks and a fleet of luxury cars.[2] A raid in her Poes garden residence in 1997 recovered 800 kg (1,800 lb) silver, 28 kg (62 lb) gold, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 sarees, 91 watches and other valuables. The valuables were kept in a vault in Reserve Bank of India in Chennai. Opposition parties petitioned to request the court to take the control of the assets, but the special judge John Michael Cunha who inspected the assets on 7 January 2014, ordered the assets to be transferred to Bangalore.[3]

The trial went on for 18 years and was transferred to Bangalore from Chennai. The judgement was pronounced on 27 September 2014 in the Special Court which convicted all four accused namely Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran and sentenced all to four years simple imprisonment. While Jayalalithaa was fined ₹100 crores, the other three were fined ₹10 crore each. The case had political implications as it was the first case where a ruling Chief minister had to step down on account of a court sentence. She was convicted for the third time overall and was forced to step down from the Chief Minister's office for the second time. She was also the seventh politician and the first MLA from the state and third overall to be disqualified after the Supreme Court judgment in July 2013 on the Representation of People's Act that prevents convicted politicians from holding office.

In May 2015, Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy of the Karnataka High Court overturned the trial court's verdict and acquitted Jayalalithaa and others of all charges. This paved the way for Jayalalithaa's return to power as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the 23rd of May, 2015.

Case

Jayalalithaa is a three-time chief minister of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa was accused of misusing her office during her first tenure as chief minister during 1991-96 to amass properties worth ₹66.65 crores and depositing the amount in her proxy accounts.[1] The assets under the purview of the case span over 1,200 hectares including the farm houses and bungalows in Chennai, agricultural land in Tamil Nadu, a farm house in Hyderabad, a tea estate in the Nilgiris, valuable jewelry, industrial sheds, cash deposits and investments in banks and investments and a set of luxury cars.[2] A raid in her Poes garden residence in 1997 recovered 800 kg (1,800 lb) silver, 28 kg (62 lb) gold, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 sarees, 91 watches and other valuables. The valuables were kept in a vault in Reserve Bank of India in Chennai. The opposition party petitioned to request the court to take the control of the assets, but the special judge John Michael Cunha who inspected the assets on 7 January 2014, ordered the assets to be transferred to Bangalore.[3] The judgement of the case was pronounced on 27 September 2014 in the Special Court which convicted all four including Jayalalithaa guilty. The case had political implications as it was the first case where a ruling Chief minister had to step down on account of a court verdict.

Later on 11 May 2015 , Jayalalithaa was acquitted of all the charges by High Court of Karnataka.[4]

Trial

The DMK government lost its power to Jayalalitha lead AIADMK in 2001 and in 2003, requested the court proceedings outside Tamil Nadu doubting a fair trial under her rule. The case was transferred to the neighbouring state, Karnataka.[5] During May 2010, Jayalalithaa's counsel argued that the officers who were running the proceedings were not competent to run the case under Prevention of Corruptions Act. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal as withdrawn.[6]

In 2012, Karnataka Advocate General BV Acharya resigned as the Special Public Prosecutor from the Jayalalithaa DA trial. He then told reporters that he was being pressured by the state government and "forces" who wanted him out of the case.[7]

In 2002, several prosecution witnesses resiled from their earlier depositions when Ms. Jayalalitha was acquitted by Madras High Court. Bangalore Special court Justices S.N. Variava and H.K. Sema observed in their 32 page judgement, "No attempt has been made to elicit or find out whether witnesses were resiling because they are now under pressure to do so. It does appear that the new public prosecutor is hand in glove with the accused, thereby causing a reasonable apprehension of likelihood of failure of justice in the minds of the public at large. There is a strong indication that the process of justice is being subverted."[8]

The Supreme Court instructed her to appear personally in the court set up at Parpana Agrahara and answer the questions, against her appeal to avoid personal appearance in the court quoting security reasons and move the court to a location closer to the airport.[9] She gave her statement and answered questions for two consecutive days on 20 and 21 October 2011. A chief minister undergoing trial in a court invited lot of criticism and the opposition demanded her resignation.[2]

During June 2014, the Supreme Court ordered resumption of trial and dismissed the plea from Jayalalithaa seeking to abate the case.[10]

The judgement of the case was pronounced on 27 September 2014 in the Special Court which convincted all four including Jayalalithaa guilty. Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years simple imprisonment under sections 13 (1) (e) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and imposed a fine of ₹100 crores, which would be adjusted against the properties already confiscated. The three co-accused were all sentenced to four years simple imprisonment under Sections 120B and 109 in Indian Penal Code (IPC) and a fine of ₹10 crores each. The failure of payment of the fine would result in another additional year of sentence. The sentence resulted in Jayalalithaa getting disqualified as a MLA and the Chief minister of the state. She would also not be able to contest elections for 10 years barring the victory in higher courts. The judge directed the court Registry to communicate the verdict to the Tamil Nadu Governor and the Speaker of the Assembly.[11][12][13]

Following the judgment, Jayalalithaa was moved to Parappana Agrahara prison number 7402 in barrack 23 where Karantaka Chief minister B.S. Yedurappa was imprisoned for 24 days in connection with land scam. The request for a VVIP cell and medical treatment were all denied quoting her conviction. The three co-accused were imprisoned in other jails in the prison.[14] A bail application was filed in the Supreme Court by the convicted for higher appeal and releasing them in bail during the trial in High Court. The Supreme Court granted bail for all the four convicted on 17 October 2014 and stipulated a timeline of three months for the completion of the appeal.[15]

The case went to appeal in Karnataka High Court. The arguments and counter arguments were completed within stipulated time, but the judgement of the case was delayed as Anbazhagan filed a writ petition in Supreme Court against the appointment of Bhavani Singh as the prosecutor in the case. He was accused of aiding the accused. The Supreme Court accepted the appeal and ruled that appointment of Bhavani was against rules. It also instructed the High Court to get written statements from the newly appointed prosecutor of the case by Karnataka government.[16] The Karnataka government appointed B.V. Acharya, who earlier appeared in the case. He submitted a three page statement to the judge.[17]

On 11 May 2015, Jayalalithaa was acquitted of all charges by the Karnataka High Court, causing wild celebrations by supporters.[18]

Judges

Five judges were handling the case after it was transferred to the special court in Bangalore. A.S. Pachapure was the first judge when the proceedings started in Bangalore in November 2013. A.T. Pachapure was promoted to Karnataka High Court and Munoli took over as the judge. After his retirement, B.M. Mallikarjuaniah took over as the judge of the case. After his retirement, M.S. Balakrishna took over as the judge in November 2013, followed by John Michael Cunha in March 2014.[19] The case was handled by Kumaraswamy, when it came to appeal in the Karnataka High Court.

Aftermath

Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu with O. Pannerselvam, the ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu

Chaos prevailed outside the court premises as well in Tamil Nadu on account of the judgement getting delayed from 11 am to 3 pm. There was further confusion when the sentence was not announced till 5 p.m. Soon after the judgement, violence erupted across Tamil Nadu. Sporadic incidents of violence were reported across the state initiated by the AIADMK party men and loyalists. Most shops, restaurants, malls and movie halls remained closed, while public transport was totally stopped. The neighbouring state of Karnataka and Kerala stopped inter state buses to Tamil Nadu. A state owned bus was set ablaze near Kanchipuram before passengers were made to alight. The governor K. Rosiah, in cosultation with the Chief Secretary Mohan Varghese Chunkath, Director General of Police K. Ramanujam and Chennai Commissioner of Police, S. George to Raj Bhavan, accelerated operations to maintain law and order. The DGP reported that 39 companies of Police were deployed and the situation was under control. The opposition parties complained of violence in the state, with the leader of DMK, M. Karunanidhi wrote to the President of India and the Prime minister seeking restoration of peace in the state.[20] The Central Home Ministry also offered full support to the state to control violence.[21] Venkatesan, a 65-year-old fan of Jayalilathaa, immolated himself at around 5:15 p.m. at the Vanniyar Street - Arcot Junction in Chennai as a mark of protest. He was reported to have died around midnight in the hospital. Another follower tried self-immolation in front of the house of Jayalalithaa at Poes Gardens, but was stopped by the police.[22]

Following the disqualification of Jayalalithaa as Chief minister, media reported various front runners for the post. There were no clear names emerging, but the names of O. Panneerselvam, the finance minister and ex-Chief Minister of the state, Vishalakshi Nedunchezian, a gyneacologist and Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for women, Edappadi K. Palaniswamy, the minister of highways and minor ports and A. Navaneethakrishnan, the former State Advocate General were reported as the candidates.[23]

Subsequently, at a meeting of AIADMK, O. Panneerselvam was chosen as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.[24]

On 17 October 2014, Supreme Court granted two months bail and suspended her sentence in Disproportionate Assets Case.[25] On 18 December 2014, Supreme Court extended her bail by four months and ordered that her appeal challenging conviction in Karnataka High Court be conducted on day-to-day basis by a Special Bench.[11]

Political consequences

Jayalalithaa became the first Chief Minister to lose the post due to the conviction while in office. She became the first Member of Legislative Assembly from the state, third Member of all assemblies in India and the seventh politician after Congress Rajya Sabha MP Rasheed Masood, RJD leader and ex-Chief minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav, JD (U) leader Jagadish Sharma and Rajya Sabha MP T.M. Selvaganapathy who lost their post after the July 2013 Supreme Court judgement on Representation of the People Act, which prevents member of the state legislative assemblies and members of parliament from holding the posts after conviction.[26] She was convicted for the third time overall and was forced to step down from the Chief minister's office for the second time.[13] Jayalalithaa is among six former chief ministers of different states to have been charged and jailed in various corruption cases. Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former CM of Bihar, Jagannath Mishra, the former CM of Bihar, Madhu Khoda, the former CM of Jharkhand and Om Prakash Chautala, the former CM of Haryana, were among the convicted CMs, while the former CM of Karnataka, Yeddyurappa was charged in a land allotment case.[27]

Timeline

References

  1. 1 2 Arun, Kalyan (11 February 2000). "Jayalalitha convicted, supporters go on rampage". New Delhi: India Abroad. Retrieved 1 January 2014. – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 Iyer, Radhika (21 October 2011). "Jayalalithaa's court appearance over, heads back to Chennai". Bangalore: NDTV. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Karnataka judge inspects Jayalalithaa's assets". TNN. Chennai: The Times of India. 7 January 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "High Court verdict on Jayalalithaa's asset case". The Hindu. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Jayalalithaa deposes for third time in disproportionate assets case". IANS. Bangalore: India Today. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Jayalalitha's petition in graft case dismissed". New Delhi: Hindustan Times. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2014. – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  7. ↑ "In a relief to Jayalalithaa, Acharya says he will not file an additional submission in DA case". The News Minute. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  8. ↑ "Over to Bangalore". frontline.in. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "No relief from SC, Jaya to appear before court today". New Delhi: Hindustan Times. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2014. – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  10. ↑ "SC Orders Resumption of Trial in Jaya Assets Case". New Delhi: Hindustan Times. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014. – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Jayalalithaa acquitted by Karnataka High Court in DA case – Read judgment and case history". 1, Law Street. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  12. ↑ Yamunan, Sruthisagar; Krishnaprasad (28 September 2014). "Jayalalithaa goes to jail". Bangalore: The Hindu.
  13. 1 2 Sivan, Jayaraj; A., Subramani; P., Vasanth Kumar (28 September 2014). "Assets take Jaya from Garden to jail". Sunday Times. Bangalore/Chennai.
  14. ↑ M.K., Madhusoodan; Kalkod, Rajiv (28 September 2014). "Amma is now prisoner number 7402". Sunday Times.
  15. 1 2 "Jayalalitha Bail Order – Supreme Court – 17.10.2014". 1, Law Street. 17 October 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  16. ↑ "Supreme Court strikes down Bhavani Singh's appointment". The Hindu. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "Jayalalithaa wealth case: B.V. Acharya back as SPP". The Hindu. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "Indian Tamil leader Jayalalithaa Jayaram cleared of corruption, paving way for return to politics". ABC News. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  19. ↑ Krishnaprasad (27 September 2014). "Man of the moment is the fifth judge of the case". The Hindu. Bangalore.
  20. ↑ S., Vijayakumar (28 September 2014). "Violence across the state". Chennai: The Hindu.
  21. ↑ Special Correspondent (28 September 2014). "Centre offers help to tackle violence". New Delhi: The Hindu.
  22. ↑ Peter, Petlee (28 September 2014). "65-year old man kills self over conviction". Chennai: The Hindu.
  23. ↑ "Front runners". Chennai: The Hindu. 28 September 2014.
  24. ↑ "Disproportionate assets case aftermath: New Chief Minister". All India: NDTV. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  25. ↑ "India's Supreme Court grants bail to Jayalalitha". BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  26. ↑ "Fifth politician to lose post". Sunday Times. 28 September 2014.
  27. ↑ "Jaya 1st CM in office to be convicted". Sunday Times. 28 February 2014.
  28. ↑ "Supreme Court quashes order removing Bhavani Singh". Bangalore: The Hindu. 7 September 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  29. ↑ "Twists and Turns". The Hindu. Bangalore. 27 September 2014.
  30. ↑ "Jayalalithaa guilty in assets case, Gets 4-year jail term". Bangalore: India Today. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  31. ↑ "Disproportionate assets case: Jayalalithaa files bail plea in Karnataka HC". Bangalore: Firstpost. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  32. ↑ "Disproportionate assets case: Bail plea was not accepted, and is postponed for six more days.". Bangalore: Firstpost. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  33. ↑ "Huge blow to Jayalalithaa". IBNLive. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  34. ↑ "Supreme Court terms SPP's appointment bad but no de novo hearing in Jayalalitha's Appeal". 1, Law Street. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  35. ↑ "Jayalalitha: sworn in a chief minister of Tamil Nadu". India: BBC News. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
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