In 2016, on an appeal from the Karnataka government, the Supreme Court had reserved judgement in the case after hearing arguments. In 2015, the Karnataka HC overturned the judgment acquitted Jayalalithaa and others, finding that their collective assets were disproportionate by 8.12 percent. The trial, concluded in 2014, found Jayalalithaa and the three accused guilty of amassing assets considered disproportionate by around Rs 54 crore. Sasikala also cannot contest elections for a period of 10 years - during her four-year imprisonment and for a further six years during which she will remain disqualified from contesting.
Nevertheless, the Rs 100-crore fine imposed on Jayalalithaa during the conviction will be recovered from her properties. After the conviction, Jayalalithaa had served 20 days of her sentence in a Karnataka jail before the court granted her bail. As per law, criminal cases cease upon the accused person’s death.
However, since Jayalalithaa had expired before the judgement, the appeal against her has ‘abated’. Jayalalithaa’s sentence had been for 10 years.
During the trial, Jayalalithaa’s defence did try to claim that the funds were legitimate, though neither the trial court then nor the Supreme Court have accepted the source of these funds as legitimate.Ī Supreme Court bench of Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitava Roy has upheld their sentence of four years each along with a fine of Rs 10 crore each. While the apex court has held that Jayalalithaa was indeed the source for all the inflow of funds into the accounts of all these companies, the source of the funds remains undiscovered, left to speculation. These companies were then used to purchase assets and did not conduct any business during the five years in question. It has now been held that Jayalalitha and Sasikala conspired to float companies in the names of Sasikala, Elavarasi and Sudhakaran during that time to launder Jayalalitha’s money through 34 companies (see list of 32 below) owned by the latter three. Jayalalithaa was accused of amassing wealth to the tune of Rs 66 crore within the five years of her first tenure as CM of Tamil Nadu, which she began with a declared income of around Rs 2 crore. Jayalalithaa, who was the main accused in the DA case that has taken 20 years to go through legal processes.
Sasikala was a close confidante of deceased TN CM and AIADMK supremo, J. Since the probe began in 1996, Jayalalithaa has been the CM of Tamil Nadu thrice. The judgement comes after two decades of court battles, raids that revealed kilos of gold and silver, expensive sarees and 750 pairs of shoes and other assets. Sasikala, her nephew Sudhakaran and widowed sister-in-law Elavarasi guilty in a case of disproportionate assets. After 20 years, the Supreme Court has finally found V.K.