Tamil Nadu – Page 5

Bangalore: AIADMK Chief and former Tamil Nadu chief minister has to wait for another week, before her bail plea would be heard by a vacation bench of the Karnataka High Court here. The court on Wednesday deferred the hearing on her bail petition to October 7.

The 66 years old former actress turned politician had appealed for bail on Tuesday, and the matter was to be heard today. But following a plea by the prosecution that they did not have time to prepare a counter argument, the hearing has been adjourned to next week.

The High Court is on Dasara holidays from 29 September to 6 October and the petition will be taken up on the 7 October by a normal bench.

The High Court had considered to hear her plea, after her lawyers had appealed that her case should be treated as an exception as the continued incarceration was causing law and order problems in Tamil Nadu. They also argued that the VVIP politician’s health was unstable.

Tamil film workers fast

Film stars and industry workers fasted in show of support to their ‘beloved’ leader yesterday. Some 3,000 directors, actors, producers and others takook part in the hunger strike. Theaters across Tamil Nadu were closed, and no filming took place, in a state that eats and sleeps on movies.

“We decided not to have any film shootings, editing, dubbing or movie screenings across Tamil Nadu from 9.00am to 5.00pm today,” said Diamond Babu, a public relations officer in the Tamil-language film industry.

“We still consider her as chief minister. We only wish & pray that she (Jayalalithaa) gets bail, I wish she’s shifted back to Tamil Nadu. The punishment we feel is harsh, it is vindictive,” leading south Indian actor R. Sarathkumar told the media.

Jayalalithaa was charged in 1997, when police seized assets including 28kg of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home in Chennai.

Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 404-hectare (1,000-acre) estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister.

Bangalore: AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa will have to remain in jail till October 6 with the Karnataka High Court adjourning her plea seeking bail and challenging her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.

As the matter came up, G Bhavani Singh, who was the Special Public Prosecutor in the Special Court on the disproportionate assets case, told the judge that he had not yet received any official notification appointing him as the SPP for the criminal appeal filed in the High Court.

Singh sought more time, at which point vacation bench judge Justice Rathnakala posted the matter for hearing on October 6.

In her petitions seeking immediate bail and challenging her sentence, Jayalalithaa has maintained that the charges of amassing wealth against her were false and that she had acquired property through legal means.

Jayalalitha has also contended that the trial court has overlooked several judgements and has not considered the binding nature of various income tax orders and decisions of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which had accepted the income and the level of expenditure pleaded by her.

The former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s aide Sasikala, her relatives V N Sudhakaran, disowned foster son of the former Chief Minister, and Ilavarasi have also moved the High Court seeking bail and challenging their conviction.

In the verdict that cost Jayalalithaa the Chief Minister’s job and disqualified her from being an MLA, the judge had also slapped a staggering fine of Rs 100 crore on her and Rs 10 crore each on the three other accused persons.

In her appeal, Jayalalithaa pleaded for suspension of the conviction and the sentence and also refused to pay the Rs 100 crore fine imposed on her.

The hearing came up before the vacation bench as the High Court is on Dasara holidays from September 29 to October 6.

(PTI)

Relief remains elusive for Jayalalithaa, bail hearing postponed to Oct 7

No immediate relief for Jaya, bail plea adjourned to Oct 6

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