Karnataka HC to decide on Jayalalithaa's appeal against conviction in DA case on Monday

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court will pronounce on 11 May its verdict on the appeals filed by former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa and three others challenging their conviction by the trial court in the disproportionate assets case. [caption id=“attachment_2235808” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa. AFP[/caption] “The Special Vacation Single Bench of Justice CR Kumaraswamy is constituted to sit in Court Hall No. 14 at 11:00 am on Monday - the 11th May 2015 - for pronouncement of Judgment (in the appeals),” a high court notification said in Bengaluru on Friday night. Special Court Judge John Michael D’Cunha had on 27 September last year held the AIADMK supremo and three others guilty of corruption and awarded four years jail term, due to which she attracted disqualification as an MLA. The Judge had also slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on her and Rs 10 crore each on three other convicts. Challenging this, the four had filed appeals in the high court where a special bench was set up on the directions of the Supreme Court while granting her bail on 18 December last. The apex court had directed the high court to decide the appeal within three months. Justice Kumaraswamy, who heard the appeals, had reserved the order on 11 March after defence counsel filed their replies challenging written submissions made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the original complainant in the case. DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan, on whose petition the assets case was transferred to Bengaluru from Chennai, had moved the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of G Bhavani Singh as Special Public Prosecutor by Tamil Nadu government for the appeals. The Supreme Court had on 27 April cleared the decks for pronouncement of the judgement in the case. It held as “bad in law” the appointment of Singh but ruled out fresh hearing in the appeal against her conviction. After the apex court order, senior advocate B V Acharya was appointed Special Public Prosecutor by Karnataka government and he had on 29 April filed a written submission in the high court praying for dismissal of appeals filed by Jayalalithaa and others. Apart from Jayalalithaa, her close confidante Sasikala and the latter’s relatives Sudhakaran, erstwhile foster son of the AIADMK leader, and Elavarasi were also convicted. They were charged with amassing wealth beyond known sources of their income during 1991-96 when Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister for the first time. PTI