With a special court in Bangalore >set to pass its judgment on September 27 in the disproportionate assets case against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others, senior police officials of the two States met over the weekend to discuss security issues that could crop up immediately after the verdict.
Inspector-General of Police (Intelligence) and Superintendent of Police (Security) and others from Tamil Nadu took part in a high-level meeting convened by the Karnataka police on Saturday. As Ms. Jayalalithaa is under Z-plus security, issues relating to her protection and threat perceptions were analysed, police officials said.
Though the judgment was originally slated for September 20, it was postponed by a week after Ms. Jayalalithaa filed a petition seeking to shift the venue to a suitable location citing security reasons. “The meeting was to review the security arrangements at ‘Gandhi Bhavan’, near Parappana Agrahara central prison, where the special court Judge will pronounce the verdict. Such advance security liaison exercises are done ahead of VVIP visits to a place. An Additional Commissioner of Police from Bangalore was here on Sunday,” a senior police official told The Hindu .
“The venue [of the judgment] is a small place and there will be strict access-control… even journalists will be kept at a distance,” he said.
Highly placed official sources said the police had instructions to ensure that there was no untoward incident in the State irrespective of the outcome in the case. Police officials across the State, particularly those in districts bordering Karnataka, were told to make sure that normal life remains unaffected.
