CBI chargesheets Jayalalithaa, two former ministers

The CBI today chargesheeted AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa in a corruption case for allegedly receiving cash gifts worth more than Rs 2 crore from partymen and 8216;admirers8217; in the early 1990s when she was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The 2000-page chargesheet in the decade-old case was filed in the court of the Principal Judge, Meenakshisundaram, trying CBI cases.

Citing 285 documents and 149 witnesses, the final report arraigns Jayalalithaa and two of her former Cabinet colleagues during her regime of 1991-96. In June this year, the investigating agency had sought the permission of Tamil Nadu Speaker R. Avudaiyappan to proceed against Jayalalithaa, now a member of the Assembly. As per procedure under the Prevention of Corruption Act PCA, 1988, prior sanction was necessary to proceed against a public servant while in office. With the CBI filing the chargesheet, it is now clear that the Speaker had accorded sanction to the CBI to proceed with the prosecution.

Jayalalithaa has been accused under Section 11 of the PCA, which makes it a criminal offence for a public servant to accept valuable things without consideration from persons connected to the public servant8217;s official dealings. The offence, if proved, is punishable by a prison term ranging from six months to five years with a fine.

Her former Cabinet colleagues, K.A. Sengottaiyan and Alagu Thirunavukkarasu, also arraigned in the chargesheet, have been accused under Section 12 of the PCA for abetting the main offence. Sengottaiyan is presently the AIADMK8217;s whip in the Assembly. But Thirunavukkarasu, who broke away from AIADMK, is not in active politics anymore.