The Madras High Court on Tuesday wanted to know whether Veda Nilayam, which served as the residence of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa until her death on December 5, was also part of the assets in a case booked against her by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in 1996 on the charge of possessing assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.
The first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar raised the query during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition filed by one V. Thangavelu, who challenged the State Government’s move to convert Veda Nilayam at Poes Garden here into a memorial.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court had in February this year convicted the other accused, including Jayalalithaa’s close confidante V.K. Sasikala, in the case and confirmed the trial court’s order to attach the properties involved in the offence, the Chief Justice wanted to know if Veda Nilayam was also one of those properties.
In his reply, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the court that the ‘check period’ (the period within which a person had been accused of amassing wealth disproportionate to his/her income) for the DVAC case was between 1991 and 1996, when Jayalalithaa served as Chief Minister, whereas Veda Nilayam was purchased much before that.
He also undertook to produce by Friday the list of properties that had been ordered to be attached in the disproportionate assets case and accused the petitioner of having filed the present petition for nothing but publicity.
