New Delhi: Gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 2.51 crore and wrist watches worth Rs 15.9 lakh were part of the Rs 55 crore assets amassed by late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, her close aide V K Sasikala and two others.

Besides Jayalalithaa against whom the proceedings got abated owing to her death, Sasikala and her two relatives were convicted and sentenced by the Supreme Court to four year jail term in the disproportionate assets case.

A bench of Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, while upholding trial court’s valuation of assets of the convicts during the check period of 1991-1996, noted that besides jewellery and wrist watches, they also owned vehicles worth Rs almost 1.30 crore and over 400 kg silver worth Rs 20.8 lakh.

The trial court, however, did not consider the prosecution’s claim that they possessed sarees and footwear worth Rs 92.4 lakh and Rs two lakh respectively.

Putting its seal of approval on the computation of assets done by the special trial court, it said the convicts, who resided at Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence in Chennai, collectively possessed immovable properties worth Rs 20.07 crore and newly constructed buildings worth Rs 22.53 crore.

The vehicles owned by them between 1991 and 1996, included a Maruti car, a Hindustan Motor’s Contessa, vans and jeeps worth Rs 1.29 crore.

It noted that the value of the assets held by them before the check period was assessed at Rs 2.01 crore while the remaining was acquired over five-six years.

The cash in the bank accounts of the convicts was valued at Rs 97.47 lakh while fixed deposits and shares in their names were worth Rs 3.42 crore.

The apex court had in its 570-page judgement yesterday held that Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her two relatives had entered into a conspiracy and the late Chief Minister, who was a public servant at the relevant time, had come to possess assets disproportionate to the known sources of her income during the check period.

“We have analysed the evidence adduced by the parties and we come to the conclusion that A1 to A4 (all the accused) have entered into a conspiracy and in furtherance of the same, A1 (Jayalalithaa) who was a public servant at the relevant time had come into possession of assets disproportionate to the known sources of her income during the check period and had got the same dispersed in the names of A2 to A4 and the firms and companies involved to hold these on her behalf with a masked front,” the bench had said.

“…the facts and circumstances proved in evidence undoubtedly point out that A2 to A4 were accommodated in the house of A1 pursuant to the criminal conspiracy hatched by them to hold the assets of A1,” it had said.

(Agencies)

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday began hearing on a petition by former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s widow Zakia challenging the clean chit given by a lower court to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and 58 others regarding their alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Justice Sonia Gokani will also continue the hearing today.

Petitioners’ lawyer Mihir Desai briefed the court about the background of the case and argued that it pertained to all the cases related to 2002 Gujarat riots.

The criminal review petition filed by Zakia and the NGO Citizen for Justice and Peace, run by Teesta Setalvad, demanded that Mr Modi, who was then the Chief Minister, and 58 others be made accused for being party to the criminal conspiracy behind the riots.

Zakia has also prayed for rejection of the closure report filed by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team on February 8, 2012, which gave clean chit to Mr Modi and others.

In December 2013, a metropolitan court here rejected Zakia’s plea to make Mr Modi and others accused, after which she moved the high court in 2014.

On February 28, 2002, following the Godhra train burning incident, 68 people including Ehsan were killed by a mob at Gulberg Society here as riots swept many parts of Gujarat.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Former AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala Natarajan on Wednesday reached Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara jail to surrender after being convicted in a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case by the Supreme Court.

Sasikala’s husband M Natarajan and supporters were present at Bengaluru jail. Trial court has also been shifted to jail for Sasikala’s surrender.

Before heading to jail, Sasikala paid a floral tribute to late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa and sought her blessings. She travelled to the Karnataka capital by road.

Sasikala was on Tuesday sentenced to 4 years in prison by the apex court, in Rs 66 crore DA case.

The former AIADMK chief appointed Edappadi K. Palanisamy as leader of the legislature party and her nephew Dinakaran as the deputy general secretary of the party, as her final official act before heading to Bengaluru.

Sasikala’s lawyer had on Wednesday asked the apex court for more time for her to surrender, but this was rejected.

Before she left Golden Bay resort on Tuesday, Sasikala addressed the MLAs who have been staying inside the luxurious resort since last week and asked them to ensure that the AIADMK remains united. “I may go to jail, but my heart will always here. I will continue to perform my duties as the AIADMK General Secretary from wherever I am,” Sasikala told her legislators.

She also launched a veiled attack against Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao asking why he has not invited Mr Palanisamy to form the government as yet. “They can’t jail my thoughts. Whether I’m here or in another state, I will work for the party 24 hours a day. Our enemy Karunanidhi lodged this case and we should ensure that his party DMK does not come to power again in Tamil Nadu,” she said.

“There is no need for anyone to be afraid. We must do good for the people and we must only think about how to help the people. I request you to smile and not cry,” Sasikala said.

She also sacked acting CM O Panneerselvam from the party and appointed E Palanisamy as the new AIADMK Legislature Party leader.

(Agencies)

(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Lucknow: As voting for 67 seats in 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh began on Wednesday, the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) is hoping to repeat its 2012 performance in the region.

The SP had won 34 of the 67 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had come a distant second with 17 seats in the last election.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is making a strong pitch to make inroads in the region had won 10 seats while the Congress, which is now contesting the polls in alliance with the SP, had barely managed 4 seats.

Regional parties like the Ittehadul-E-Millat Council and the Peace Party had won one seat each.

Muslim population is sizeable in 40 constituencies in the second phase and they could hold the key to victory.

In all 721 candidates are in the fray. The key seats are Sambhal, Moradabad, Rampur, Bareilly, Amroha, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Bijnore, Saharanpur and Budayun.

(IANS)

Mangaluru: Jignesh Mevani, a prominent social activist from Gujarat, on Tuesday announced the setting up of Samvidhan Suraksha Samiti (SSS) to counter the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) in the country.

Mevani, an advocate by profession, was addressing the cadres of the Campus Front of India (CFI) during its students vigil conference organised at Town Hall in the city.

The conference titled ‘Mothers Cry for Justice’ aimed at ensuring justice for Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohit Vemula, and Nafeesath, mother of Najeeb Ahmed. Vemula, a research scholar at the Central University of Hyderabad (CUH) committed suicide allegedly due to some issues with the university authorities, a year ago. Najeeb Ahmed, a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, went missing mysteriously from the campus on October last.

The activist also announced that it was for the first time that he was disclosing before the media about the Samiti that will have its branches in every state and district in the country. Wherever the RSS has a branch, the SSS will set up a branch, said Mevani, with the sole intention of checking the recurrence of Rohit Vemula and Najeeb Ahmed-like incidents henceforth.

Mevani launched a tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and dared the latter to bring back Najeeb and also Vemula, as he often called himself as a man with ‘Chappan Inch Ka Seena’ (man with 56-inch chest).

Mincing no words, Mevani who called the RSS and other right wing organisations as emerging threats to the internal security of the country, especially after Modi became the prime minister, reminded the gathering that ‘Note Bandhi’ (demonetisation of notes), ‘Manuvad’ (proposition of religion) and the Gujarat model are three dangerous developments in the country.

Mevani termed the Gujarat model as nothing but a combination of fascism and communalism that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent Muslims in the Godhra pogrom.

Prof P Koya, national general secretary of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO) from Kerala, appealed to the gathering to remove the wet blanket of fear that has enveloped the country.

Koya said, such is the fret among the people that they have accepted demonetisation of currency notes without any protest. The judiciary and media have turned mute without mustering courage to raise the voice fearing loss of benefits in the future.

He complimented the judiciary in the United States of America (US) where a judge was pugnacious in opposing the ban on immigrants from seven Islamic nations imposed by new US President Donald Trump.

National president of CFI Shuhaid P V gave a clarion call to weed out fascism that is the enemy of not just the society but all individuals.

Shuhaid, who claimed that CFI was the first to call the suicide of Vemula as ‘institutional murder’, wanted the gathering to consider the issue of demonetisation, national education policy and also attempts to scuttle students movement as the issue of every Indian.

Former chairman of Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission C S Dwarakanath, national general secretary of CFI T Abdul Nasar, Rohit Vemula’s friend Sunganna Velpula, writer Yogesh Master and general secretary of national women’s front Lubna Minaaz were also present.

(Agencies)