The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh to reassess the value of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s properties. The court accepted the defence counsel’s submissions that the DMK government-led probe had deliberately overvalued the properties.
During the proceedings in the disproportionate assets case, Sasikala Natarajan’s counsel C. Manishankhar countered the submissions made by the SPP saying that the immovable properties of the accused were deliberately overvalued by the engineers.
Overruling Mr. Singh’s submissions, Justice C R Kumaraswamy, said, “I want you (Singh) to reassess the value of immovable properties of the accused, situated in Payyanur, Kodaikanal and Sirudavur, in Tamil Nadu, and present details of it before the court.”
Ms. Jayalalithaa and three others were convicted under Section 13(1)(e) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which defines the offence of criminal misconduct by a public servant.
The special bench has been set up at the direction of the Supreme Court on December 18 to decide Ms. Jayalalithaa’s appeal against the Special Court’s verdict in three months.
The Special Court had held Ms. Jayalalithaa and three others guilty of corruption and awarded four years’ jail term and slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on the AIADMK chief. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10 crore each on the three other convicts.
Besides Ms. Jayalalithaa, her close aide Sasikala and her relatives Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, were convicted. - PTI
HC accepts defence counsel’s submissions that the probe had deliberately overvalued the properties
