New Delhi: The M Karunanidhi-led DMK on Monday moved Supreme Court to challenge the acquittal of AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court recently.
The petition was filed by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan.
"Today, Anbazhagan filed a petition in Supreme Court against Jayalalithaa's acquittal order. Already, the Karnataka government has filed a petition...in this petition they raise a number of grounds undertaking High Court's judgement," lawyer GS Mani told ANI.
The DMK decided to file an appeal in the apex court after exerting pressure on the Congress government in Karnataka to challenge the May 11 order of the High Court acquitting Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case.
A meeting of DMK district secretaries was held in Chennai recently where a decision in this regard was taken.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court had twice stated that DMK has the right to be a party in Jayalalithaa’s disproportionate assets case, party chief M Karunanidhi had earlier said that his party would file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of Jayalalithaa, who was sworn in as the Chief Minister later.
While Jayalalithaa had waited for almost 10 days after the May 11 acquittal order before taking oath as CM, Karunanidhi had been insisting that the Karnataka government file an appeal as it was their “duty to uphold justice.”
The DMK meeting that took the decision also had the backing of opinions from BV Acharya, Special Public Prosecutor in the Jayalalithaa case, and Karnataka Advocate General Ravi Varma Kumar, who had asked their government to file an appeal in SC.
While Acharya had pointed out arithmetical errors in the judgement, advocate general Kumar told media persons that the judgement had flaws and that he had advised the Karnataka government to file an appeal as the sole prosecutor.
Importantly, the Karnataka government, too, last month moved the Supreme Court against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in the disproportionate assets case.
The Karnataka High Court had given a clean chit to Jayalalithaa and three others on May 11, clearing them of "all charges" in the 19-year-old case, helping her to return as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
The Bengaluru trial court had earlier convicted Jayalalithaa for possessing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income and sentenced her to a four-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.
However, the High Court later over-ruled the judgement.
