Jayalalithaa moves Karnataka High Court for bail

Jailed former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday filed a criminal revision petition in the Karnataka High Court here, seeking suspension of the four-year jail sentence and bail in the corruption case.

Jayalalithaa’s senior counsel B. Kumar filed a set of four applications with the high court registrar for an early hearing, seeking suspension of the sentence, bail for her release, review of the hefty Rs.100 crore fine and stay on conviction, an AIADMK leader told IANS here.

As the high court is on a week-long holiday till Oct 6, the petitions will be put up before a vacation bench, which will hear only urgent or special cases Tuesday.

A special court here Saturday convicted Jayalalithaa in the 18-year-old case of amassing wealth disproportionate to her known income and sentenced her to four years in jail.

She was also fined Rs.100 crore under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

“If the petition for suspending the sentence is allowed, we hope the bail application will also be considered as we want our party supremo out of jail at the earliest,” the leader said on the condition of anonymity.

One interim petition seeks stay on confiscation of properties seized in 1997 from Jayalalithaa’s residence in Chennai by the Enforcement Directorate and now in the custody of the trial court here.

The properties include about 800 kg of silver, 28 kg of gold ornaments, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 saris, 91 watches and other valuables.

Along with Jayalalithaa, three others were also sentenced to four years in jail in the case although the fine imposed is Rs.10 crore on each of them.

The three convicted are Sasikala Natarajan, V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Illavarasi.

Jayalalithaa has been disqualified from being a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly and removed from the chief minister's post Monday after the trial court submitted a copy of the 900-page judgement to Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah in Chennai. - IANS