New Delhi: The bail plea of jailed former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, seeking immediate release and suspension of quantum of punishment, will now come up for hearing in the Supreme Court of Friday. The AIADMK chief is presently lodged in a Bangalore jail in connection with a graft case.
A bench headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu posted the case for hearing on October 17 after senior advocate Fali S Nariman pleaded to the court to 'accommodate' the case in this week itself. October 17 will be the last chance for Jayalalithaa to come out of jail before Diwali as the Apex Court will go on vacation for a week after Friday.
Earlier on October 7, the 66-year-old veteran politician was denied bail by the Karnataka High Court despite the special public prosecutor not objecting to grant of conditional bail to her.
The High Court had said that ‘there are no grounds' to give bail to Jayalalithaa and corruption amounts to ‘violation of human rights' and leads to economic imbalance.
In her bail petition, Jayalalithaa maintained that the charge of amassing wealth against her during 1991-96 when she was the chief minister for the first time was false and that she had acquired property through legal means.
She also contended that the trial court had overlooked several judgements and not considered the binding nature of various income tax orders and decisions of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which had accepted the income and the level of expenditure pleaded by her.
The High Court had on October 7 also rejected the bail pleas by Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran, disowned foster-son of the former Chief Minister, and Ilavarasi, who have also been sent to four years in jail in the 18-year-old case.
The special court had held 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 fine on each of the three other accused.
