Bengaluru court dismisses Jayalalithaa kin's petition to release her seized properties

Bengaluru, July 13:  A Bengaluru court has dismissed the petition by the niece and nephew of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha seeking release of her properties seized by the authorities.

The properties were seized in connection with a disproportionate assets case in 2004.

Dismissing the petition, filed by J. Deepak and J. Deepa, on Wednesday, Additional City Civil and Sessions judge H.A. Mohan held that “all properties were acquired by illegal means and accordingly, ordered to be confiscated. Therefore, the properties shall go to the government only and not in favor of petitioners”.

The petitioners maintained that Jayalalithaa had died before the judgment by the Supreme Court and argued that the order of the abatement is clean chit to her in connection with the case. They submitted that they were legal heirs, entitled to get the properties.

The bench, however, noted that the Supreme Court has ordered to abate the case against accused only in connection with the punishment portion and not with the order of confiscation of properties. Though the applicants are named as legal heirs to succeed the property of the estate of Jayalalitha, under the facts and circumstances they are not entitled to get the property under seizure.

The Supreme Court had convicted then AIADMK General Secretary and her aide Sasikala Natarajan in 2017 in connection with the disproportionate case lodged in 2004. The judgment quashed the Karnataka High Court’s order in which Jayalalitha and Sasikala were acquitted.