As former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa’s political fate hangs in further legal tangle, her lawyers have decided to move the Karnataka High Court for bail application on Monday. In a jolt to Jayalalithaa, one of the most powerful politicians has been convicted on Saturday by a special court in Bangalore for a four-year simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs100 crores in a DA case.
B Kumar, senior counsel for the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister told the media that they would be filing a bail application plea in the Karnataka High Court on Monday.
The 66-year-old AIADMK supremo who ruled TN with an iron fist has been sentenced to four-year simple jail term and a fine of Rs100 crores in a DA case which went on for 16 long years. According to her lawyers, the case may be taken up only on Tuesday when there is a scheduled hearing by a vacation bench because the High Court will observe holidays from September 29 to August 6 for Dussehra.
Unless the conviction is overturned by a superior court, Jayalalithaa runs the risk of being barred from contesting elections for 10 years — four years when she is in jail and six years after release. TN is going for elections in 2016 which is crucial for Jayalalithaa.The ruling by special court judge Justice John Michael D’Cunha who sentenced to four years imprisonment in the Rs66.65 crore disproportionate assets case has sent shock waves in Indian politics.
Since the sentencing was for a period more than three years, only the High Court can grant bail in Jayalalithaa’s case.According to legal experts, the criminal revision petition is one of the options before the lawyers who would like to secure an immediate stay on the conviction and the sentencing.
A stay on the conviction, which superior courts are said to be normally reluctant to grant in a corruption case, would nullify the disqualification as MlA which the AIADMK leader has suffered with Saturday’s judgement.
According to jail sources in Parappana Agrahara High Security Prison on the outskirts of Bangalore where J Jayalalithaa has been jailed, she has been given a prison number 7402 and took a morning walk on Sunday. She read some Tamil newspapers and English newspapers before her breakfast. Jayalalithaa has been allotted VVIP cell number 23 of the prison which is next to the women’s barrack.
Sources said Ministers and leaders of the party including the former CM and the present Finance Minister O Panneerselvam were not allowed to meet Jayalalithaa as today being Sunday no visitors were allowed inside the prison. Other convicts Sasikala Natarajan, Illavarasi and Sudhakaran have been given prisoner numbers 7403, 7404 and 7405 respectively.
Sudhakaran has been allocated a VIP cell next to former Karnataka Tourism Minister and Mining baron G Janardhana Reddy.Meanwhile, a group of Jayalalithaa supporters and party workers marched towards the jail seeking an opportunity to meet their leader but they were stopped by police officials on their way.