Special court adjourns Sasikala's trial to Jan 30

Bangalore, Jan 18: The special court trying the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today adjourned to January 30, the proceedings against her close aide and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan, concerning the translation process.

Special Court judge, B M Mallikarjunaiah adjourned the matter after counsel for Sasikala, C Manishankar orally submitted that since the Karnataka High Court had granted six weeks interim stay on the proceedings which was in force till January 30, the case may be taken up on that day.

To this, Assistant Public Prosecutor Sandesh Chowta stated that since the matter was coming up for hearing in High Court on Jan 20, the orders on the matter may be passed that day and this court may hear the case on Jan 23 or 24. At this, the court adjourned the matter to January 30.

The case relates to accumulation of wealth allegedly disproportionate to Jayalalithaa's known sources of income when she was chief minister in 1991-96. Earlier, counsels for the all the four accused in the case (Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, V Sudhakaran and Elavarasi) filed petitions seeking exemption from their personal appearance for the day which was allowed by the court. On December 19, Justice B V Pinto had granted six weeks interim stay on the proceedings against Sasikala.

PTI