After fighting an 18-year-old legal battle, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has a date with destiny on Saturday when a Special Court pronounces the verdict in the disproportionate assets case against her and three other accused.
Jayalalithaa has been charged with accumulating Rs66 crore wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income from 1991-96 in her first term as Chief Minister in the case that has seen many political and legal twists and turns.
Her close aide Sasikala Natarajan, her niece Ilavarasi and her nephew and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son Sudhakaran are others listed as accused in the case.
The verdict will be delivered by Judge John Michael D'Cunha at a makeshit court in the Parappana Agrahara prison complex with the area in and around turned into a fortress with five layers of security. Platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police, the city Armed Reserve and the Rapid Action Force will be stationed near the court, besides hundreds of policemen, including those in plain clothes, police said.