V.K. Sasikala and two co-accused in the Jayalalithaa disproportionate assets case on Wednesday moved a review petition in the Supreme Court against their conviction .
Sasikala, J. Ilavarasi and V.N. Sudhakaran argued that since the case against the main accused and sole public servant in the corruption case, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, had abated, the charges against them should also abate. They argued that the case died with the death of the sole public servant and a corruption case cannot be sustained against private citizens.
The court had in a detailed judgment on February 14 indicted Jayalalithaa , albeit posthumously, of having criminally conspired with then aide Sasikala at her Poes Garden residence to launder ill-gotten wealth.
However, while setting aside the Karnataka High Court's acquittal of Sasikala and two co-accused in the 20-year-old disproportionate assets case, the Supreme Court said the appeals filed by Karnataka government and others, including DMK leader K. Anbazhagan, against Jayalalithaa stands abated with her death on December 5, 2016.
A Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy had "restored in toto" the trial court's conviction of Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran in September 2014, and ordered them to surrender forthwith.
Even after Sasikala comes out after serving her four-year sentence, she would be disqualified to contest elections for the next six years as per the Supreme Court judgment in Lily Thomas versus Union of India of July 2013.
