Unaccounted cash deposits, witness testimonies nailed Jayalalithaa

One of the most damning pieces of evidence against her, according to the judgment of special judge John Michael Cunha, came in the form of 423 unaccounted cash deposits in current account number 1952 in the Mylapore branch of Canara Bank. This account was in the name of a newspaper, Namadhu MGR, operated by Jaya Publications in which Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were partners.

Nearly Rs 14 crore in unaccounted cash was deposited in this account between 1991 and 1996 during Jayalalithaa’s first tenure as chief minister. Similarly, 31 unaccounted cash deposits were traced to an account held by Jaya Publications, over 300 deposits to half a dozen firms run by Sasikala and her nephew that was used in buying nearly 3,000 acres of land in the period. “The accused have failed to offer any satisfactory explanation as to the enormous unexplained credits that entered into their bank accounts,” the judgment, accessed by The Indian Express, said.

In the course of the examination of witnesses, the court learnt that the unaccounted cash deposits could be directly traced to Jayalalithaa. “It is proved in evidence that all the remittances into the various bank accounts referred above were made by one Ram Vijayan and Jayaraman, the staff of A-1 (Jayalalithaa) working in her house at Poes Garden at the relevant point of time,” the court said in its 1,136-page verdict.

“Jayaraman has categorically stated that Mr. Vijayan used to deposit the money given to them in the names of the companies mentioned by A-2 (Sasikala) in Canara Bank, Mylapore branch and Indian Bank, Abirampuram branch. He has specifically stated that Smt. Sasikala used to instruct him about the details of the bank to which the deposit should be credited and she used to send the amount either in suitcases or bags through domestic servants,” it said. Officers at the banks who handled the funds sent from Jayalalithaa’s home corroborated the facts, it said.

“This evidence undoubtedly establishes that even though large number of accounts were opened either in the names of accused or in the names of the firms…, yet, the remittance into the said accounts used to be made only by the staff of A-1 as per the instructions of A-2,” the judge said.