In a huge blow to AIADMK general secretary, VK Sasikala, the Supreme Court of India(SCI) on Wednesday August 23,2017 refused to consider her review petition in the disproportionate assets case.
A Bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and Amitava Roy dismissed the review petitions of Sasikala, J. Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran, observing that “we do not find any error in the common judgement, much less an apparent error on the face of the record, so as to call for its review”.
In February, months after party supremo Jayalalithaa had passed away in December, the Supreme Court upheld Sasikala’s conviction in the same disproportionate assets case as Jayalalithaa.
This came at a time when O Panneerselvam was about to step down from the Chief Minister’s post and the new party general secretary was hoping to become the new state chief.
Sasikala had moved the Supreme Court seeking re-examination of its verdict in the disproportionate assets case in May this year. She was handed a four-year jail term along with a fine of Rs 10 crore.
The review petition filed by the AIADMK leader and two others — V N Sudhakaran, Jayalalithaa's foster son, and Elavarasi, widow of Sasikala's elder brother — had challenged the setting aside of Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting her and restoring the trial court verdict.
The trial court in Bengaluru had convicted Sasikala along with Jayalalithaa, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, in the case for amassing assets disproportionate to their income.
In her petition, Sasikala had relied on an earlier apex court verdict of 1991 in which after the death of a prime accused, the proceeding against the co-accused was also abated in a corruption case.
Sasikala was convicted in the case by SCI on February 14,2017
The special trial court had found disproportionate assets worth Rs 53.60 crore, which Jayalalithaa and the three others could not account for. The CBI had alleged that the unaccounted wealth was in the tune of Rs 66.65 crore.
With this, legal options in front of Sasikala to come out of jail, have reduced further. Also, this major setback comes at a time when Tamil Nadu politics is going through a churning. Just a few days ago the rival AIADMK factions joined hands but a day after, 19 MLAs withdrew support
A Bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and Amitava Roy dismissed the review petitions of Sasikala, J. Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran, observing that “we do not find any error in the common judgement, much less an apparent error on the face of the record, so as to call for its review”.
In February, months after party supremo Jayalalithaa had passed away in December, the Supreme Court upheld Sasikala’s conviction in the same disproportionate assets case as Jayalalithaa.
This came at a time when O Panneerselvam was about to step down from the Chief Minister’s post and the new party general secretary was hoping to become the new state chief.
Sasikala had moved the Supreme Court seeking re-examination of its verdict in the disproportionate assets case in May this year. She was handed a four-year jail term along with a fine of Rs 10 crore.
The review petition filed by the AIADMK leader and two others — V N Sudhakaran, Jayalalithaa's foster son, and Elavarasi, widow of Sasikala's elder brother — had challenged the setting aside of Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting her and restoring the trial court verdict.
The trial court in Bengaluru had convicted Sasikala along with Jayalalithaa, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, in the case for amassing assets disproportionate to their income.
In her petition, Sasikala had relied on an earlier apex court verdict of 1991 in which after the death of a prime accused, the proceeding against the co-accused was also abated in a corruption case.
Sasikala was convicted in the case by SCI on February 14,2017
The special trial court had found disproportionate assets worth Rs 53.60 crore, which Jayalalithaa and the three others could not account for. The CBI had alleged that the unaccounted wealth was in the tune of Rs 66.65 crore.
With this, legal options in front of Sasikala to come out of jail, have reduced further. Also, this major setback comes at a time when Tamil Nadu politics is going through a churning. Just a few days ago the rival AIADMK factions joined hands but a day after, 19 MLAs withdrew support
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