Jayalalithaa acquitted in 18-year long DA case; Verdict paves way to CM’s office

The Karnataka High Court today allowed the appeals in the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case. The verdict, delivered by Justice Kumaraswamy, acquitted the AIADMK leader and her associates of all charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code..In September last year, Jaya and three others were convicted for having 66.65 crore worth of disproportionate assets by special judge Michael Cunha. Three months later, the Supreme Court directed a special bench to be constituted in the Karnataka High Court to dispose of the appeal within 3 months..Senior Advocates L Nageswara Rao and B Kumar appeared for Jayalalithaa in the High Court, whereas retired High Court judge and Senior Advocate R Basant appeared for the second accused, Sasikala..Justice Kumaraswamy held in the 900-plus page judgment that the trial court’s conviction was based on miscalculation of the assets of the accused. It was held,. “The Prosecution has mixed up assets of Accused, firms and companies and also added the cost of construction i.e., Rs.27,79,88,945/- and marriage expenses at Rs.6,45,04,222/- and valued the assets at Rs.66,44,73,573. If we remove the exaggerated value of cost of construction and marriage expenses, the assets will work out at Rs.37,59,02,466/-. The total income of the Accused, firms and companies is Rs.34,76,65,654/-. Lack of proportion amount is Rs.2,82,36,812/-. The percentage of disproportionate assets is 8.12%…It is well settled law that according to Krishnanand Agnihotri’s case, when there is disproportionate assets to the extent of 10%, the accused are entitled for acquittal.”.The case has had its fair share of controversy, with DMK leader Anbazhagan challenging Bhavani Singh’s appointment as Special Public Prosecutor in the Supreme Court. After the matter was referred to a larger bench, it was eventually decided that the appointment was bad in law and senior counsel BV Acharya was made the new SPP. However, the bench of Justices Dipak Misra, RK Agarwal and PC Pant also held that there was no justification for re-hearing the appeal..After what has been a long-drawn legal battle, the verdict will now pave the way for Jayalalithaa to reclaim her post as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. According to news reports, she may be reinstated as early as May 17..Earlier today, amidst heavy security at the Karnataka High Court and surrounding areas, the Amma faithful were confident of a favourable verdict in the case.