The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and three others on appeals filed against Karnataka High Court order acquitting them in a disproportionate assets case.
A bench comprising justices PC Ghose and RK Agrawal also issued notices to Jayalalithaa’s close aide Sasikala and two of her relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, and asked them to file their replies within eight weeks.
The Karnataka High Court order had on May 11 ruled that the AIADMK supremo’s conviction by the special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing the decks for her return as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The petition, filed through advocate Joseph Aristotle, had also claimed that the High Court erred in computing the disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader.
The state government in the petition had asked whether the High Court had “erred in law” by according the benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgment, holding that an accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets was to the extent of ten per cent. It added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party.
The special court had last year held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.
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