The Supreme Court of India squashed AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala's hopes of becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, by sentencing her to four years in jail for conspiring and abetting with the late J Jayalalithaa's design to "launder ill-gotten wealth" up to £5.36 million.
The bench consisting of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy restored the Bengaluru trial court's conviction order and sentencing "in toto" while setting aside the Karnataka High Court judgment that acquitted Jaya, Sasikala, Sasikala's sister-in-law Ilavarasi, and nephew VN Sudhakaran. All those convicted will also have to pay £1 million each as fine and their assets such as gold and diamond jewellery, found to be disproportionate to their known sources of income, will be confiscated by virtue of the Supreme Court judgment.
The bench held that Sasikala and her two relatives were accommodated in Jaya's house not out of humanitarian concern or for social living, but "pursuant to the criminal conspiracy hatched by them to hold the assets" of the former AIADMK chief and "to launder the ill-gotten wealth" for purchasing properties in the names of shell firms. Judgment in the matter remained pending since Jaya's death on December 5, the SC abated proceedings against her in the 1996 case, maintaining that her "inextricable nexus" with Sasikala and other co-accused was duly proved by way of overwhelming evidence to establish charges of active abetment and conspiracy against the co-accused. "The trial court was meticulous, sensitive, vigilant and judicious in appraisal, stands authenticated by the fact that in valuing the assets, as warranted… the impugned judgment and order of the High Court (of 2015) suffers from manifest errors on the face of the record, both on facts and in law and is liable to be set aside," the bench said.
It directed Sasikala and others to surrender forthwith before the trial court, which was further directed "to take immediate steps to ensure" that they serve out the remainder of the sentence. The three had served 21 days in prison after their conviction by the trial court in September 2014.
Justices Ghose and Roy, in the 570-page order, wrote a concurring verdict, underlining that "the percentage of disproportionate assets as 8.12 per cent, as computed by the High Court is based on completely wrong reading of the evidence on record compounded by incorrect arithmetical calculations." They however, said that it did not need to make fresh calculation of the assets and liabilities to arrive at a number since the trial court had already undertaken this exercise in a correct manner and the assessment was "unexceptional".
Hours after the conviction, Sasikala expelled 20 rebel leaders from the primary membership of the party. In a two-page statement, Sasikala said the cadres should not have any truck with the expelled leaders in the future. Sacked leaders include, former Speaker P H Pandian, former ministers C Ponnaiyan, Natham R Viswanathan, K P Munusamy, P Mohan, K A Jayapaul, K P Rajendra Prasad and Parithi Ilamvazhuthi.
Former Union minister E Ponnusamy, legal wing former secretary P H Manoj Pandian, minorities wing former secretary J C D Prabhakar, former MLAs K Thavasi, S K Selvam, K Ayyappan and S Muthuselvi, MGR youth wing joint secretary K A K Mukil, North Chennai (South District) presidium chairman V Neelakandan and Madurai rural district former secretary M Muthuramalingam also faced the axe.
All the expelled leaders stated Sasikala has no authority over them as she was ousted by them last week. Manoj Pandian, one of the sacked leaders said, "She has been rejected by the cadre, people and now by the court. When she rejected by all sections, she has no authority to sack us." Eight MPs from Panneerselvam camp issued a letter to the Election Commission, rejecting claims of Sasikala's appointment as general secretary of the party. They cited Rule 20 (2) of the by-law, stating that the general secretary shall be elected by primary members of the party units of Tamil Nadu, and members of other states like Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. "While Rule 43 states the general council will have powers to frame, amend and delete any of the rules of the party constitution. The rule that general secretary should be elected only by all the primary members cannot be changed or amended since it forms the basic structure of the party," they said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu PWD and highways minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, who was elected as AIADMK legislature party leader, met Governor C Vidyasagar Rao staking claim to form the government. He was accompanied by 11 leaders, including AIADMK presidium chairman KA Sengottaiyan, and ministers D Jayakumar, P Thangamani, SP Velumani. Palaniswami submitted a letter of support from legislators to prove majority to his claim.
