The legend of Jayalalithaa’s jewels: 27 years hence, some stories remain golden

The Income-Tax raids that followed at Jayalalithaa’s Veda Nilayam bungalow in Poes Garden led to seizures which captured the public imagination – fuelled as much by DMK leaders as the extent of the assets found.

Her long stint as a successful actor as one possible explanation was swept aside in the frenzy of reports talking of “10,500 saris, 750 pairs of slippers” and, especially, “500 wine glasses”, apart from 21.28 kg of gold jewellery worth Rs 3.5 crore, 1,250 kg of silver articles worth Rs 3.12 crore, diamonds worth Rs 2 crore (all as per 2015 prices), and a silver sword.

The AIADMK chief reacted to this with a resolve to not wear any ornaments from then on, and largely stuck to this for the remainder of her life.

These assets were moved to the Bangalore City Civil Court and kept in the treasury when her case was shifted there in 2000, on Jayalalithaa’s apprehensions that she may not get a fair, impartial trial in Tamil Nadu.

In February 2000, when the seized items were brought to Chennai’s Special Court-I for inventory and marking as prosecution exhibits, a fresh spree of reports followed. The pieces displayed included a diamond-studded gold belt worn by Sudhakaran, the adopted son whom Jayalalithaa later disowned; a heavily ornamented waist belt worn by her close aide V K Sasikala, featuring “2,389 diamonds, 18 emeralds, and 9 rubies”; and Jayalalithaa’s luxury bus with modern amenities unheard of at the time.

The seizures added fire to the allegations that Sasikala and family (including Sudhakaran) wielded undue influence on Jayalalithaa, and gained handsomely in the process. Many needed no proof of this given Sudhakaran’s lavish marriage – dubbed as “mother of all weddings” – held in 1995 when Jayalalithaa was CM, and marked by ostentation, protests and petitions to court.

Some court testimonies were particularly moving, such as of music composer Gangai Amaran, who broke down while talking about how he had been “forced” to sell his land to Sasikala.

But the case dragged on, and finally it was in February 2017, two months after her death in December 2016, that Jayalalithaa was convicted in the disproportionate assets case along with Sasikala, Sasikala’s sister-in-law Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran. They were fined Rs 130 crore and awarded a four-year jail term.

While Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran, spent their jail terms before being discharged in 2022, the seized assets continued to languish in the treasury of the Bengaluru court – till now.

On the order for these to be returned to the Tamil Nadu government, Advocate Asokan, who was part of Jayalalithaa’s legal team between 2009 till her death in 2016, says this is far from a done deal.

According to him, the decision of the Bengaluru court diverges from earlier Supreme Court directives. “I am yet to see the order copy, but the Supreme Court had explicitly stated that the jewels be auctioned if bank deposits were inadequate to cover the Rs 130 crore fine… Sasikala and Ilavarasi paid Rs 10 crore each, expecting the auction to cover the rest of the fine. This decision undermines the SC’s order and the legal process,” Asokan says.

Recalling the trial and the exhibition of these items, he points out that what is before the court now is “just jewels”, but what dominated news in those days were stories that just “demonised” Jayalalithaa – especially on the saris and slippers she owned.

Meanwhile, there have been other contenders to the assets. Jayalalithaa’s late brother’s children, J Deepa and Deepak, who earlier won claim to her house in Poes Garden, had moved court stating they were entitled to her properties confiscated by the state. The Special CBI Court rejected their petitions.