Jaya case: court continues recording prosecution witness

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, April 30 (PTI) A special court here today continued to record the statements of prosecution witnesses in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others.

The statements were recorded before Special Court Judge John Michael Cunha.

The court has recorded statements of 224 witnesses out of the total of 259 presented by Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh, who had begun the final arguments in the last week of March.

The court on February 28 had asked him to resume the final arguments in the case in which Jayalalithaa has been charged with accumulating Rs 66 crore wealth disproportionate to known sources of income in 1991-95 when she was chief minister.

Cunha had imposed a cost amounting to Rs 60,000 to Rs 65,000 twice on Singh after he pleaded for adjournment on the grounds of ill health.

The Judge today posted the matter for May 5.

Jaya case: Lex's plea seeking stay on case dismissed by HC

B D Narayankar reports

Bangalore, Apr 29 (PTI) The Karnataka High Court today
dismissed the petition filed by Lex Property Developers,
seeking stay on the disproportionate assets case against Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others.
        Justice Satyanarayan dismissed Lex's plea, observing that
it was an attempt by the company to delay the main case, in
which Jayalalithaa has been charged with accumulating Rs 66
crore wealth disproportionate to known sources of income from
1991 to 1995 when she was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
        The judge also imposed Rs one lakh penalty on the company.
     The Lex Property, of which Jayalalithaa and other accused
were directors, approached the High Court after the special
court here on March 14 dismissed its plea with Rs 10,000 as
cost. Aggrieved, the company came back to the Madras High
Court seeking certain clarifications to its order.
     However, the Madras court made it clear to Lex that it
must work out its remedy before the Karnataka High Court if it
was aggrieved.
    The disproportionate wealth case against Jayalalithaa was
being heard at a special court in Chennai after it was
registered in 1996.
     However, the case was transferred to special court here
by a Supreme Court order on November 18, 2011, on a petition
filed by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan.
     Among the assets attached/seized by the prosecution were
the properties of Lex. When Lex moved the Madras High Court
for appropriate orders, the court in 2011 directed it to
approach the special court in Bangalore.
        Meanwhile, in the special court Special Public Prosecutor
Bhavani Singh resumed the final arguments in Jayalalithaa
case. The court posted the matter for hearing for tomorrow.