D-day for Jayalalithaa, Karnataka High Court verdict on Monday

BENGALURU: After several twists and turns in the criminal case pertaining to former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa, and her associates, the Karnataka High Court is set to pronounce its judgment on May 11 at 11 am on the appeals by the four who were convicted in a disproportionate assets case.

The high court special bench of Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy, on March 11 had reserved its judgment on the appeals filed by Ms Jayalalithaa and three others challenging the verdict of a lower court convicting them.

The controversy pertaining to the appointment of Bhavani Singh as Special Public Prosecutor had also reached the Supreme Court which later struck down the appointment terming it as ‘bad in law.’ Eventually, the state government appointed former advocate general B.V. Acharya, as the SPP who filed written arguments.

The special bench was constituted by the Karnataka high court to hear the appeals following a Supreme Court direction. The special bench has heard the case on a day-to-day basis  since January 5 to complete the hearing within five months.

Earlier, a special court had held Ms Jayalalithaa and three others guilty of corruption. The court had also slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on the AIADMK chief and Rs 10 crore on each of the three other convicts.

Additional Commissioner of Police (West-Division), Bengaluru, Alok Kumar, said “We will be deploying adequate policemen around the High Court complex on Monday.