After two days of marathon sessions in which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's statements in response to 567 questions were recorded, the Special Court, dealing with the Rs.66.6-crore disproportionate assets case here, on Friday adjourned the proceedings till November 8 as the recording remained inconclusive.
Ms. Jayalalithaa has to give statements for a total of 1,339 questions, prepared by the court based on evidence gathered from 259 witnesses in the case. The Supreme Court, while directing her to be personally present in the Special Court, which is now temporarily sitting at the Gandhi Bhavan in Parappana Agrahara for security reasons, had also directed the Special Court to record her statements in two days.
During the nearly six-hour-long court proceedings on Friday, Ms. Jayalalitha replied to 188 questions, which mostly pertained to her properties, including diamond jewellery, saris, footwear, silverware and companies. On Thursday, she recorded her statements to 379 questions.
Sources said that on Friday too she remained calm and composed, and in fact, argued her case forcefully before Special Court Judge B.M. Mallikarjunaiah.
Questions pertaining to evidence given by 150 witnesses have been completed, and the remaining evidence of 109 witnesses will be taken up when the proceedings resume.
When Mr. Mallikarjunaiah adjourned the court proceedings till Saturday, it was pointed out that she had to attend the Chief Ministers' conference in Delhi. When the court adjourned proceedings till November 4, the court was told that an important engagement had been fixed for that day.
The proceedings were then adjourned till November 8.
However, B. Kumar, her counsel, told reporters that the Special Court could not question her again in view of the Supreme Court order.
“Supreme Court will have holidays next week. We will approach the court after that. The argument was on how to interpret the Supreme Court order, which fixed two days for recording statements, and we said we should wait for Supreme Court's opinion,” he said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa was accompanied by her friend and aide Sasikala, and Ilavarasi, the co-accused in the case. Another accused T.V. Sudhakaran was also present.
