New Delhi: Court proceedings in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close aide Sasikala Natarajan are likely to continue despite the CM’s death, according to special public prosecutor in the case BV Acharya.
In a conversation with News18.com, he recalled the “plan which was etched up” to move him out of the special prosecutor’s post and maintained that the Karnataka High Court order acquitting Jayalalithaa was “wrong and was without any merit”.
On June 7, 2016, the Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on the appeal by Karnataka government challenging the high court’s order of acquittal for Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran.
However, according to Acharya, Jayalalithaa’s death will have “no bearing on the judgment of the apex court”. The case was filed in 1996 after BJP leader Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against Jayalalithaa.
Acharya, who was a senior counsel and former advocate general of Karnataka, told News18.com that it is unlikely that the court will not deliver a judgment considering her demise.
“When there is only one accused, then in the event of the person’s death the judgment is usually abated. But in this case, there were more than one accused and even if Jayalalithaa’s name would be struck off, Sasikala and others are still very much in the case and could be convicted again,” Acharya said.
Acharya believes that now the apex court has to deliver a judgment on merits.
“Whether the SC decides to reiterate the High Court verdict which acquitted all of them, or uphold the trial court verdict by convicting them again, the judgment must be reasoned with merits to show whether they are involved in a conspiracy in amassing illegal wealth or not,” he said.
Acharya who was the public prosecutor for the case when it was transferred from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka, said that in 2002, around 259 prosecution evidences were examined and over a thousand documents were assessed to conclude that the accused were guilty.
“But after I resigned as the public prosecutor, Karnataka appointed another prosecutor, G Bhawani Singh and 70 witnesses were re-called for examination and all of a sudden they all retracted their statements. Even Jayalalithaa was allowed to appear in abstentia,” he said.
“There was all a plan which was etched up so that I would resign as the prosecutor. But I resigned as the advocate general and continued to be the prosecutor. This ruffled feathers of people who were pressurising me. Then to compel me further, a private complaint was lodged against me which offended me and I resigned as the prosecutor,” he said.
Acharya filed a writ petition against the complaint before the High Court which quashed the complaint within three months.
He maintains that the order of Jayalalithaa’s acquittal by the Karnataka High Court was wrong and was without any merit. “The error was apparent when even when the lawyers of the accused only commented on the conclusive paragraph of the judgment without delving into the reasoning given by the judges,” Acharya said.
The judgment is now pending to be delivered by Justice Pinaki Ghose and Justice Amitava Roy of the Supreme Court. Acharya said that if the apex court rules in favour of the prosecution, then not only could Sasikala and others land in jail paying a fine, but there would also be an order of confiscation of properties by the government.