CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government has begun confiscating properties belonging to late chief minister Jayalalithaa, VK Sasikala, Ilaravasi, and VN Sudhakaran, all the four accused in a disproportionate assets case. Bengaluru Special Court judge John D'Cunha had held that the four had acquired assets disproportionate to the known source of income to the extent of over £5.5 million, during 1991 and 1996 when Jaya was the CM and was drawing a token monthly salary of Re 1.
The trial court order of September 2013 was overturned by Justice Kumaraswamy of Karnataka High Court in April 2015. Later, the Supreme Court quashed the judgement and upheld the trial court's order of conviction. However, it also said that the case against Jaya has abated following her death in December 2016, rejecting Karnataka's petition for a review of the abatement order. Karnataka Special Prosecutor BV Acharya said Justice Kumaraswamy had not only overturned the conviction of the four, but had also set aside the fines imposed on them by the trial court. He pointed out that the SC has only restored the trial court's order in regard to convictions and imprisonment the four accused, four years in the case of Jaya and three years each for the other three.
He added that this does not bar the state government from confiscating assets acquired by corrupt means by all the four, including Jaya, as they were all held to be co-conspirators and were liable for action under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Apex Court also held that Jaya, a public servant, was the main culprit and the other three were only benamis. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had attached 128 properties in 1997 when it registered the case. Only 68 properties of these are held to be disproportionate to known sources of income and acquired during the check period and are now sought to be confiscated by the State.
It further held that all the immovable properties registered in the names of Lex Property Development Ltd, Meadow Agro Farms Pvt Ltd, Ramaraj Agro Mills Ltd, Signora Business Enterprises, Riverway Agro Products Ltd and Indo-Doha Pharmaceuticals which have already been attached, should be confiscated by the state government.
