Supreme Court reserves verdict in TN chief minister Jayalalithaa DA case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on appeals filed by Karnataka, DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the Karnataka high court’s verdict acquitting Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, her aide Sasikala, Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhagaran in the Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case.

The verdict in the case will determine the political fortunes of Ms Jayalalithaa, re-elected for a second term, and the AIADMK government. A bench of Justices Pinaki Chanda Ghose and Amitav Roy reserved verdict at the conclusion of marathon arguments.

The bench asked counsel for parties to submit written arguments by Friday. During the course of arguments, the bench, in its oral observations, had said that the acquisition of properties per se may not be an offence unless it was shown that the income used for purchase of such properties were obtained through illegal means.

If the court affirms the high court order acquitting her, it will be seen as a huge victory for her as she has been maintaining all these years that the case was politically motivated and foisted on her.