DA case: Jaya returns home after grilling

PTI

Bangalore, 22 October 2011: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday headed back to Chennai after answering questions from a special court judge in connection with the disproportionate assets case against her.

 

As per reports, the questioning of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is still not over in the Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case and the special court has posted the matter for further hearing on November 8.

 

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, who came to Bangalore reluctantly, was smiling as she left for home. Jayalalithaa’s counsel also told reporters that she would like to move the Supreme Court to avoid more personal appearances in the case.

 

Jayalalithaa had, yesterday, deposed before a special court here in a closed door hearing amid tight security. She was not made to stand in the witness box and was seated in front of the judge, sources said.

 

The trial of the disproportionate assets case relates to alleged accumulation of assets worth over Rs 66 crore by Jayalalithaa when she was Chief Minister between 1991 and 1996.

 

The AIADMK chief had accused the DMK of foisting false cases against her.

 

Her statement is being recorded before special court judge B M Mallikarjunaiah in a make-shift court close to Parappana Agrahara central jail premises on the city outskirts that was virtually turned into a fortress.

 

Jayalalithaa faced 379 questions and she answered them "precisely and properly," B Kumar, her senior counsel, said.

 

The questions were based on the circumstances mentioned by the prosecution in evidence statements of witnesses, Kumar said.

 

Besides Jayalalithaa, the other accused in the case are: Her close confidante Sasikala Natarajan, Sasikala’s nephew Sudhakaran and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi.

 

The Chief Minister was forced to make an appearance after the Supreme Court rejected her plea for postponing the hearing by a few days due to security concerns and asked her to appear before the special court.

 

This is Jayalalithaa’s first appearance before the Bangalore special court after the case was shifted here in 2003 following a Supreme Court directive on a petition by DMK which contended that a fair trial was not possible in Chennai during her tenure as Chief Minister then.