Disproportionate asset case: Jaya resumes deposition

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday resumed her deposition before a special court in Bengaluru for the third time in connection with the Rs 66 crore disproportionate asset case against her and two others.

Jayalalithaa landed at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited airport and immediately proceeded to the special court near Parapparana Agra Central Jail premises on the city outskirts.  

Bengaluru city police have imposed prohibitory orders around the Parappana Jail premises from 6 am on Tuesday to midnight of Wednesday. A tight security blanket has been thrown around jail and also from the HAL airport upto the prison.

The chief minister was accompanied by her close friend Sasikala Natarajan and Jayalalithaa's adopted son V Sudhakaran, the other accused in the 15-year-old case.

Jayalalithaa, who appeared before the court on October 20 and 21, still has to answer 768 questions as her deposition remained inconclusive last month when she replied to about 571 of 1339 framed by the court.

Special Court Judge B M Malliarjunaiah on November 8 had posted the hearing to today after Jayalalithaa moved an application seeking postponing of the hearing. The Supreme Court had earlier rejected her plea for personal exemption from appearance and for   furnishing written replies on the remaining questions and directed her to appear in person on Tuesday.

Jayalalithaa has been charged with accumulation of wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income when she was the chief minister between 1991-96. The trial was transferred from a Chennai court to Bengaluru in 2003 by the Supreme Court on a petition by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam General Secretary K Anbazhagan.