Courting victory: Jayalalithaa acquitted in disproportionate assets case

Bengaluru: A team of 25 lawyers led by senior counsel B. Kumar and advocate S. Senthil spent more than six months in preparing legal points to ensure that AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa got out of the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate wealth case, which unseated her from the post of chief minister of Tamil Nadu, following her four-year conviction in the case by a special court.

Soon after Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy of the Karnataka high court pronounced his verdict, acquitting Jayalalithaa and three others in the case, more than one hundred advocates who thronged the court hall, came out in a jubilant mood praising Jayalalithaa.

After special judge John Michael Gunha convicted and sentenced Jayalalithaa, her close aide Sasikala, her erstwhile foster son V. N. Sudhakaran, Sasikala’s relative Illavarasi to four years’ imprisonment on September 27, a battery of 25 lawyers formed a team to work out the legal issues to help Jayalalithaa win her case. When this correspondent met them at the ITC hotel after the high court verdict, they said that the very next day after the verdict of the special court, they formed a team, camped in Bengaluru and worked day and night to help Jayalalithaa become chief minister again to serve the people of Tamil Nadu.

“Every day, we worked hard to prepare the legal grounds to disprove the prosecution’s case. We were busy preparing notes to clarify the points raised by senior counsel L. Nageshwar Rao and B. Kumar, appearing for Ms Jayalalithaa, senior counsel R. Basant for Sasikala and senior counsel T. Sudanthiram, former judge of the Madras high court. We also put in efforts to prepare notes to reply to the points raised by the prosecution. We worked as a team leaving behind our personal practice only to prove that AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa is innocent and has not committed any offence as alleged by the DMK,” said S. Diwakar and R. Anbukkarasu, members of the team.

Advocate S. Senthi, who led the team said, “On September 27, 2014, the trial court convicted all the accused for offences under the PCA and IPC. Though it is well known that it is a foisted case by our political opponents, without appreciating the evidence, the trial court convicted all the accused. Challenging the same, the present appeals were preferred and all the appeals are allowed. It is a big lesson for political parties who fail to earn the confidence of people”.

“This is a good judgment. The injustice done by the trial court has been remedied. Our stand/ explanation is perfect and it is totally acceptable and has been upheld. On a point of law, the acceptance of her income and the extent of her expenditure by the income tax department up to the Tribunal level has an important bearing on the issue and has also been accepted by the high court. Our stand has been fully vindicated. Had there been a proper dispassionate investigation, the case itself would not have been filed”, said senior counsel B. Kumar.