Former Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa files paperbook of appeal in Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday filed a voluminous paperbook of her appeal in the Karnataka High Court in line with the Supreme Court order while granting her conditional bail in the disproportionate assets case.

"Jayalalithaa today filed the paperbook of her appeal as the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had assured the apex court to do the same by December 18," B Kumar, Senior Counsel for the 66-year-old leader, told PTI here. The apex court had on October 17 granted bail after extracting an assurance that she would file a paperbook of her appeal within two months in the High Court where her appeal against the special court's verdict convicting her in the illegal assets case is pending.

"If paperbook is not filed within two months, then we won't give you even a single day more," the bench had said then in a stern message. "We are happy that our client Jayalalithaa has filed the paperbook of her appeal before December 18 deadline set by the apex court," Kumar said. Jayalalithaa had moved the Supreme Court seeking bail on several grounds including ill health, after her plea was rejected by the Karnataka High Court on October 7 which held that there were no grounds for granting the relief.

Kumar said approximately 150 volumes of paperbooks have been filed, each consisting of about 350 or more pages. Three weeks after being jailed, the AIADMK supremo had got major relief when the apex court granted her bail making it clear in October that her appeal against conviction in the High Court should be completed in five months from then.

A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu had suspended the sentence of four years simple imprisonment given by the trial court in Bangalore and warned her against any delay by seeking adjournment in her appeal in the Karnataka High Court. Apart from Jayalalithaa, her aide Sasikala and her relatives V N Sudhakaran, erstwhile foster son of the AIADMK leader, and J Ilavarasi were also convicted by the trial court.