The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s aide Sasikala Natrajan’s plea, seeking some prosecution documents relating to the disproportionate assets case against them, pending trial in a Bangalore court.
A bench of justice P Sathasivam and justice Ranjan Gogoi reserved the judgement after hearing arguments by Sasikala’s counsel on her appeal against the Karnataka High Court ruling, which had concurred with the trial court order that she was not entitled to the documents which were not part of the charge sheet.
Earlier on June 25, the apex court had refused to stay the trial but had allowed her to place on record the relevant materials relating to her claim that she was not provided with certain documents relating to the questions put to her in the ongoing day-to-day trial.
Jaya and others are accused of amassing disproportionate wealth during her tenure as chief minister in 1991-96.
On November 4 last year, the apex court had dismissed Jayalalithaa’s plea for exemption from personal appearance before the trial court in Bangalore.
The disproportionate assets case allegedly involves accumulation of assets worth over Rs 66 crore by Jayalalithaa between 1991 and 1996.
The DA case proceedings were shifted out of Tamil Nadu by the apex court in November 2003 following a petition filed by DMK leader K Anbazhagan when AIADMK was in power.
Jaya had said the jewellery, silverware and footwear were “over valued” by Tamil Nadu’s Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption and that she did not own all the sarees confiscated in the case.
