M A I N   N E W S

Jaya discharged in Tansi case

CHENNAI, Jan 13 (PTI) — AIADMK General Secretary and former Chief Minister Jayalalitha was today discharged from the Tansi land deal case by the Madras High Court, which held that there was no evidence to send her to trial in what was perceived by the prosecution as the strongest case against her.

Mr Justice S. Thangaraj allowed a revision petition by Ms Jayalalitha questioning the trial Judge’s order framing charges against her for buying land and buildings belonging to the state-owned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (Tansi) in 1992 in the name of a partnership firm.

He observed that there was no prima facie material to frame charges against her.

The Tansi deal involved two transactions worth about Rs 3 crore each entered with the public sector body by ‘Jaya Publications’ and ‘Sasi Enterprises’, both firms in which Ms Jayalalitha and her close aide Sasikala were partners.

In a separate order, the high court also upheld another trial Judge’s order discharging Ms Jayalalitha from the coal import deal case, rejecting the Crime Branch-CID’s revision petition against it.

Special Judge-II V. Radhakrishnan had a few months ago discharged Ms Jayalalitha and the late AIADMK leader V.R. Nedunchezhiyan for their role in clearing the import of coal by the State Electricity Board in 1993.

The two firms had purchased the state-owned property through the bidding route for about Rs 3 crore each. Both were alleged to be undervalued transactions, involving consequent evasion of stamp duty and registration charges.

The trial court framed charges against Ms Jayalalitha, Sasikala, the then Small Industries Minister Mohammed Asif, Tansi Managing Director T.R. Srinivasan, the Chief Minister’s Secretary, Mr R. Karpoorasundarapandian, and Special Deputy Collector (Stamps) S. Nagarajan.

Today’s high court order pertains only to Ms Jayalalitha.

The prosecution contended that the transactions attracted Section 169 of the IPC which bars government servants from buying or bidding for property that they are legally not entitled to.

The CB-CID, which investigated a private complaint from Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy as well as an official complaint from the state government, filed the charge sheet in December, 1996, under Section 169 and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In the coal import case, the trial court discharged Ms Jayalalitha as there was no evidence to show that she was aware of the PWD secretary’s objections to the technical aspects of the tender norms which he felt were designed to favour an Indonesian supplier. The import deal for two million tonnes of coal was cancelled after the first consignment arrived in 1993 in the wake of a controversy over its quality.

UNI adds: A special Judge trying cases of corruption during the previous AIADMK regime, today convicted the brother and sister-in-law of former AIADMK MLA G. Mallika and sentenced them to undergo seven years’ and one year’s rigorous imprisonment, respectively, in the Rs 2.35 crore disproportionate wealth case.