In a major relief to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close associate N. Sasikala, the income tax cases against them for non-filing of returns, pending for the past 18 years, have been withdrawn.
After passing an order accepting the compounding fee and other charges totalling nearly Rs 2 crore paid by the accused, the Income Tax Department filed a petition before a city magistrate court on Thursday, withdrawing the criminal proceedings against them.
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Economic Offences-I, R. Dakshinamoorthy, dismissed the cases as withdrawn.
Four cases
While two cases related to the non-filing of personal income tax returns against Ms. Jayalalithaa and Ms. Sasikala for the assessment year 1993-1994, the other two were for their non-filing of returns as partners of Sasi Enterprises for 1991-92 and 1992-1993.
Even as the cases were listed for hearing in June last year, the accused expressed their willingness to seek compounding of the offences and filed compounding applications.
