Seized Jaya valuables to be shifted to Bangalore

New judge John Michael Cunha,who began conducting the trial little over a month ago,ordered “the shifting of the valuables and material objects from the special court in Chennai to the Bangalore special court” that is conducting the trial on the orders of the Supreme Court.

The case against Jayalalithaa was initiated in 1997 by the DMK government in Tamil Nadu and was transferred to Karnataka by the Supreme Court in 2003 on a plea by Anbazhagan,who accused the AIADMK government,which assumed power in May 2001,of subversion.

Following the registration of the case,the Tamil Nadu police had in a raid on Jayalalithaa seized 1,165 kg of silver,23 kg of gold,750 pairs of shoes,10,500 sarees,91 watches and other items — numbering up to 469 on a list of material objects. The objects remained in a RBI treasury in Chennai despite the transfer of the case to Bangalore as court officials were reluctant to take responsibility for their safety during transportation and storage here.

The DMK filed an application in the special court earlier this year seeking transfer of the jewels and other seized goods valued in the range of Rs 10 crore saying the items were material evidence against Jayalalithaa. It said no verdict could be arrived at without the court viewing the physical evidence against Jayalalithaa and her three aides.

Anbazhagan and the state public prosecutor argued last week that it was mandatory for the court to be in physical possession of the seized material.

The special court,while ordering shifting of the seized material on Thursday,ignored Jayalalithaa’s argument that the DMK plea was “political vendetta”. Her lawyers argued that the seized material had been filmed and bringing it to Bangalore would entail enormous logistics and security. The material had also been declared in wealth and income tax filings by Jayalalithaa,they said.

Judge Cunha has ordered adequate security and complete secrecy for the shifting. He said the seized goods should be deposited in a safe vault of the stamp depot at the Vidhana Soudha or with the RBI,as per law. The trial has been adjourned till December 21 or until the shifting of the valuables.

The application to shift the seized goods had been pending for over three months as the trial,which is nearing its end,was stalled due to disputes raised by the DMK and Jayalalithaa over its conduct.

The DMK is seeking conviction of the Tamil Nadu CM,which could affect her politically particularly after the Supreme Court struck down on July 10,2013,sub-section 4 of section 8 of Representation of the People Act that protected positions of MPs and MLAs during pendency of their appeals against conviction in higher courts.