Wishesh June 2015 Online E-Magazine

Desi NEWS
JAYALALITHAA’S ACQUITTAL,
RIGHT OR WRONG
Karnataka high court has overturned a trial court judgment and acquitted
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa and her three associates in an 18-year-old
disproportionate assets case. AIADMK chief, along with her aides N Sasikala, VN
Sudhakaran and J Elasvarasi, was held guilty of holding unaccounted income
during her tenure as chief minister from 1991-96 by the trial court.
Her close aide Sasikala and Sasikala’s relatives Sudhakaran and Elavarasi were fined Rs 10 crore
each. The prosecution charge was that in five years as Chief Miniser, her assets, including property
and jewelry have added up to 66 crores.
Pronouncing the operative portion of the judgement, which ran into 10 volumes and over 900 pages,
Justice CR Kumaraswamy said, “Appeal allowed. All charges set aside. All are acquitted.”
The decision to declare J Jayalalithaa not guilty may have been based
on deeply flawed math, the prosecutor has alleged. “In terms of
percentage there is a glaring arithmetical error,” said public prosecutor
BV Acharya. Justice CR Kumaraswamy found that Ms Jayalalithaa’s
illegal or unaccounted wealth was at 8% of her income, which is
“relatively small” and “within the permissible limit of 10 per cent”.
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