Jayalalithaa jailed for 4 years in disproportionate assets case, fined Rs 100 crore

Jayalalithaa (Ex. Chief Minister Tamil Nadu)

DATED: 28, september 2014

Following is the course the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has traversed, seeing legal and political twists and turns in the last 18 years after the DMK government decided to form Special Court on coming to power in 1996.

1996: Dr Subramanian Swamy, then a leader of Janata Party, files a case against Jayalalithaa alleging that during her tenure as Chief Minister from 1991 to 1996, she amassed properties worth Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate to her known sources of income.

Dec 7, 1996: Jayalalitha arrested. Many allegations follow, including accumulation of disproportionate assets.

1997: A prosecution launched in Additional Sessions Court in Chennai against Jayalalithaa and three others for having assets "disproportionate" to their known income.

June 4, 1997: Charge-sheeted for offences under Sections 120-B IPC, 13(2) read with 13(1)(e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

October 1, 1997: Madras High Court dismisses three petitions by Jayalalitha including one challenging sanction granted by then Governor M Fathima Beevi for prosecuting her in the wealth case.

Trial progresses. By august 2000, 250 prosecution witnesses examined, only 10 more remained.

In the 2001 May Assembly elections, AIADMK secures absolute majority and Jayalalitha becomes Chief Minister. Her appointment is challenged due to her conviction in October, 2000 in the TANSI (Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation) case. SC nullifies the appointment.

September 21, 2001: Jayalalithaa ceases to be Chief Minister.

After her conviction is set aside, Jayalalithaa is elected to the Assembly in a bypoll from Andipatti constituency on Feb 21, 2002, and again sworn in as Chief Minister.

Three public prosecutors resign as also senior counsel.

Several prosecution witnesses resile from their earlier depositions after AIADMK returned to power.

2003: DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan approaches Supreme Court for transferring the trial to Karnataka on the ground that a fair trial was not possible in Tamil Nadu with Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister.

On November 18, 2003: The Supreme Court transfered the case to Bangalore.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa was on Saturday sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted in an Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case by a special sessions court in Bangalore. Three others were also convicted in case. Jayalalithaa, chief of the AIADMK, was also asked to pay a fine of Rs 100 crore. Her conviction has triggered massive protests across the state, with AIADMK workers targeting DMK supporters.

Here are the live updates on the story 28, september 2014:

07:48 pm: Jayalalithaa sent to Bangalore jail.

07:12 pm: Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa taken into custody, to be taken to Bangalore central jail after medical check up

06:58 pm: Tamil Nadu Governor directs officers to ensure law and order is maintained in the state. To prevent any further untoward incident.

05:52 pm: Tension prevails as protesters burn effigies of DMK President M Karunanidhi, MK Stalin and MK Alagiri.
AIADMK workers tear DMK party posters in various places including in Chennai and Madurai.
pelt stones in Ambattur, salem, Cuddalore, Srirangam which is Jayalalithaa's assembly constituency.
Shops and commercial establishments down shutters in various parts of the state.
Protesters damage vehicles parked alongside roads.

05:30 pm: Theatres closed, Malls shut in Tamil Nadu.  Normal life disrupted. 

05:21 pm: Jayalalithaa ceases to be MLA and CM. Will go to jail tonight.

05:20 pm: Buses burnt near Ambattur, Kancheepuram, several injured. 

05:06 pm: Jayalalithaa goes to Bangalore jail.

05:05 pm: Jayalalithaa slapped with Rs 100-crore fine.

05:04 pm: Jayalalithaa to step down as Chief Minister.

05:03 pm: Automatically, Jaya gets dissqualified for six years

05:02 pm: Jaya and others including Sasikala get sentence in a special court

4:57 pm: Jaya gets four-year prison.  | Watch Video 

4. 56 pm: Jaya may face seven years of jail amid reports of aresst.   

4.55 pm: Quantum of sentence to be delivered in Jaya assets case. 

04:00 pm: Jayalalithaa has been found guilty along with three others in 18-year-old dispropotionate assets case.    

3:25 pm: Tense situation in Tamil Nadu. Clashes erupt between DMK and AIADMK in various parts of Chennai

2:10 pm: The judgment in Jayalalithaa's DA case adjourned till 3pm

1:48 pm: Security beefed up at DMK office, leaders' houses.

1:44 pm: Celebrations break out outside DMK chief Karunanidhi's Gopalapuram residence in Chennai.

11:40 am: Chaos reigns near the court as supporters of Jayalalithaa lathicharged.

11:32 am: John Michael D'Cunha will read judgement. Prosecution and defence lawyers inside the court, along with all accused.

FROM ARCHIVES: J. Jayalalitha: Booty queen| 'The more we dig the more we find' | A wealth of cases | Watch Video | See pictures

11:29 am: Four BSF companies have been deployed at the special court to manage the crowd. AIADMK supporters have been asked to keep away from the court premises. Many Tamil Nadu ministers among them.

10:58 am: There are four accused in the case. Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Ilavarasi arrived together in the same convoy while the fourth accused VN Sudhakaran had arrived earlier.

10:42 am: Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha reaches special court in Bangalore

After an 18-year court battle, special Judge John Michael Cunha John Michael Cunha convicted 66-year old Jayalalithaa, who is general secretary of the AIADMK.

He held Jayalalithaa and three others - Sasikala and her relatives V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Illavarasi guilty. Sasikala is the close aide of Jayalalithaa.

Pronouncing the order, the special Judge held Jayalalithaa guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income under Sections 109 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, said Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh. Her aide Sasikala and two others have also been convicted. 

"The quantum of sentence will be decided by the judge later, which can range from two to seven years," Singh added.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who had filed a petition in 1996 against her, told senior Headlines Today jounalist, Jayalalithaa, who had the best lawyers, "should know corruption doesn't pay". "The judge is very upright. We are fighting against corruption," he said. CPI leader D. Raja told Headlines Today that Jayalalithaa will have to "step down". He added though that there was no immediate threat to the government, it has to be seen who is going to be nominated the next leader. Organisation Secretary of DMK T.K.S. Elangovan said "justice was delayed, not denied".   

Earlier, there was media blackout in many parts of Tamil Nadu, while there was a power cut in many parts of Chennai.

As the charges were being read against all the accused, unprecedented security was put up around the DMK ministers' residences in Chennai. Jayalalithaa's supporters burnt the posters of DMK leaders and Swamy. The Tamil Nadu chief minister on Tuesday had filed two more defamation cases against Swamy for his comments on Twitter ridiculing her.     

Reports said her supporters clashed with cops even as they were shown distributing sweets in anticipation of a win in the favour of their leader.  

Amid palpable tension, the 65-year-old AIADMK chief set out from her Poes Garden residence in Chennai at 8.40 am towards the airport along with her close aide Sasikala Natarajan, another accused in the case, besides Ilavarasi and flew to Bangalore in a special aircraft. See Pictures

The three other accused are Jayalalithaa's associate V.K. Sasikala, Sasikala's nephew V. N. Sudhakaran and sister-in-law J. Illavarasi.

Special Court Judge Michael Dicunha will be delivering the verdict soon at the makeshift court created at Bangalore central prison at Parappana Agrahara on the outskirts of Bangalore city, which has been provided with multi-layer security cover.

The Bangalore city police have promulgated prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC as a precautionary measure ahead of the court delivering its verdict.

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 in Tamil Nadu as Jayalalithaa ruled the state then.

"We have deployed about 2,000 security personnel in and around the central jail and about 5,000 additional forces have been positioned across the city to maintain law and order and ensure peace," Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar said.

Police have also installed CCTV cameras at vantage points in the area to check movement of people and vehicles towards the jail.

As a precautionary measure, inter-state bus services between Bangalore and Hosur across the border in Tamil Nadu have been suspended since 6am till late afternoon.

THE GENESIS AND THE AFTERMATH

During her first tenure (1991-1996) as the chief minister, Jayalalithaa had announced that she would take just Re.1 as her salary.

The charge against her was that her assets were around Rs 3 crore in 1991 and had grown to around Rs 66 crore between 1991-1996.

The AIADMK was voted out in 1996 as it was perceived to be corrupt.

Incidentally, DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy lost his Rajya Sabha seat this year after he was convicted in the cremation shed case by a CBI court. He was the local administration minister in Jayalalithaa's government when the scam broke. He later switched sides to the DMK.

The disproportionate assets case filed in 1996 by the then DMK government led by M. Karunanidhi saw several twists and turns during its course.

When the AIADMK returned to power in 2001 several witnesses turned hostile. On a petition filed by DMK leader K. Anbazhagan in the apex court, the case was transferred to Bangalore from Chennai.

Since then, the case meandered, with several petitions filed by the defence and several adjournments.

Over 255 prosecution witnesses and over 95 defence witnesses have been heard in the case.

Jayalalithaa was also summoned by the trial court in 2011 and answered over 1,300 questions posed to her by the judge.

This is not the first time in her political career that Jayalalithaa has been convicted by a court. In 2000, a trial court sentenced Jayalalithaa for three years and two years imprisonment in two cases.

The big question now is who will head the government in the absence of Jayalalithaa. Again this is not the first time such a question has cropped up.

In 2001, Jayalalithaa had to step down as a chief minister following a Supreme Court verdict which held that she cannot hold the office after being convicted for criminal offences.

However, she made O. Panneerselvam, a senior minister in her government, as the chief minister.

In 2002, Jayalalithaa again became the chief minister after being acquitted by the Madras High Court. She was later elected from Andipatti constituency.

AIADMK leaders do not rule out re-run of such an arrangement.

Friends and foes are in awe of Jayalalithaa, who is the tallest Brahmin politician in a state where anti-Brahminism is a part of political discourse.

Even her critics admit that Jayalalithaa is a fighter and has an iron grip over her party.

The judgment against her was delivered in a state where she was born.

Born in what was then known as Mysore on Feb 2, 1948, Jayalalithaa moved to Chennai with her mother, who started acting in movies.

Jayalalithaa studied at the Bishop Cotton Girl's High School in Bangalore and another Christian convent, Church Park, in Chennai. A bright student, Jayalalithaa ventured into acting and made her debut at the age of 16 in a Kannada movie.

Her first Tamil movie was the memorable "Vennira Aadai". But it was the grand success of "Aayirathil Oruvan" pairing with the legendary M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) that turned Jayalalithaa into a leading light of Tamil movie world.

She has paired with almost all the leading Tamil heroes. She has acted in over 100 movies, mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

A charismatic leader who is at home in Tamil, English and Hindi (a rare quality in Tamil Nadu politics), Jayalalithaa has also sung many songs and written several stories. But when she entered politics, few could have predicted her meteoric rise.

AIADMK founder-leader MGR made Jayalalithaa the party's propaganda secretary in the early 1980s. In 1984, she entered the Rajya Sabha.

Jayalalithaa, who chose never to marry, was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly for the first time in 1989. Just two years later, she became the chief minister, sweeping the election of 1991 held in the wake of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination.

She lost her huge mandate within five years amid corruption charges.