Dispropotionate Assets case still haunts Sasikala

 

Home of late Jayalalithaa, Veda Nilayam at the Poes Garden has become the hub of all political speculations and activities as Jayalalithaa's close aide, confidante and often referred as 'sister' Sasikala Natarajan summoning ministers of AIADMK and holding meetings. 

 

As per various sources, Sasikala is lobbying for General Secretary, the top post, of AIADMK that has been held by just two people since its formation in 1972 till date, one is the founder of the party MGR and the other one is Jayalalithaa, and this shows the importance of this position. 

 

However, amidst all these political lobbying and closed-door meetings there is the reality of ₹58 crore Disproportionate Assets case that is awaiting orders on appeal at the Supreme Court currently.  

 

According to a Firstpost report, BV Acharya the Special Public Prosecutor of the Karnataka government confirmed that this case is against Sasikala Natarajan, her sister-in-law Ilavarasi, and her nephew VN Sudhakaran and it is very much alive against them. 

 

However, the charges against main accused Jayalalithaa has been scraped off. 

 

BV Acharya who is trying this case also confirmed that the case has conspiracy charges and that the appeal against Jayalalithaa will only be abated. The arguments are over and that this case is up for judgement and at this stage charges can not be abated. Only the court verdict is awaited in this case. 

 

In the year 1996, DMK, the then ruling party, filed a case of disproportionate assets worth ₹66 crore against Jayalalithaa and four others. A special court in Bengaluru, in 2014, convicted all the accused of possessing illegal wealth and sentenced four-year imprisonment to all the accused. 

 

Jayalalithaa, Sasikala along with the other two accused spend 21 days in jail before coming out of it on bail. Then Karnataka High Court on appeal, overturned the trial court's judgement and all the four accused were acquitted. Then, Karnataka government, upon shifting of the case to Bengaluru, became the prosecutor in this case and filed an appeal in Supreme Court. 

 

This June, the Supreme Court bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy reserved the orders of this case. 

 

This case that haunted Jayalalithaa for most parts of her political career has many angles that will be unfolded in the near future. 

 

The charged that can not be abated might be dismissed on the ground that the main accused was a public servant and this case is based on corruption allegations and conspiracy by the public servant. And, since the main accused is dead hence the charges will be abated against her and can be dismissed against the others. 

 

Or, it might not be dismissed at all and haunt Sasikala's political ambitions.