After 18 years of hiding from the hands of law, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa has been found guilty in the disproportionate assets case by the Special Court in Bangalore. The now former CM has been sentenced to 4 years in jail and has also been slapped with an INR 100 crore fine.
Here is what you need to know about this case –
-
As already mentioned, this particular case has been going on over the past 18 years. Back in 1996 her friend-turned-foe Dr. Subramanian Swamy filed a complaint against Jayalalithaa alleging accumulation of assets that are disproportionate to her income and of corruption.
-
At that point, she wasn’t a CM. Her arch-rival Karunanidhi’s DMK party, the then government directed the Vigilene Department to file an FIR against her on the basis of a police investigation that was initiated due to a private complaint made by Swamy.
-
The accusation stated that Jayalalithaa acquired at least INR 66.65 crores in assets that are not justified taking into account her known income. Within the same year, names such as Sasikala, a close aide; her foster son Sudhakaran and another aide Ilavarasi were added into the case as well.
-
After Jayalalithaa came back in power 12 years ago, DMK requested the Supreme Court to move the case out of the state for the sake of a fair trial. Upon agreement, the case was moved to a Special Court in Bangalore. B V Acharya was appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor in this case. While this case dragged on in court all through 2011, Jayalalithaa was back in power after a 5 year break when DMK was elected as the government.
After a few changes in the position of Special Public Prosecutor and Special Court Judge, the trial finally took its conclusive position on August 28th 2014. On September 27th, at the cost of her public credibility, Jayalalithaa was sentenced to 4 years in jail along with a hefty fine. She also resigned from her post as CM and will be barred from contesting elections for 10 years. This decision could have a long-term impact on the state of Tamil Nadu since she hasn’t groomed a viable successor.
