A writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the appointment of Bhavani Singh as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the appeal filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and three others, convicted and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in the Rs. 66.65-crore disproportionate assets case.
Advocate G.S. Mani, a member of actor Vijayakant’s DMDK, filed the petition in public interest for a direction to the DVAC/Karnataka government not to permit Mr. Singh to appear in the High Court when the appeals filed by the four convicts are taken up for hearing on October 27.
The petitioner submitted that the SPP was appointed pursuant to the transfer of the case from Chennai to a court in Bangalore and there was a specific direction that the SPP should be appointed by the Karnataka government in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
He said that on October 7 when the bail petitions of Ms. Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi were heard in the High Court, the SPP submitted that he had no objection to granting conditional bail to the four, which was contrary to the written counter-affidavit filed by him earlier, strongly opposing the bail and suspension of the sentence.
‘Illegal intention’The petitioner alleged that the role played by Mr. Singh in the present high-profile case clearly established the “collusion and illegal intention and motive” to allow the four convicts to escape criminal justice.
Quoting a catena of apex court judgments, he said the primary duty of a public prosecutor was to ensure that an accused was punished. His duties would extend to ensuring fairness in the proceedings and also ensuring that all relevant facts and circumstances were brought to the notice of the court for a just determination of the truth.
‘Violated the trust’Contending that Mr. Singh had violated the trust reposed in him as an SPP, the petitioner sought a direction to restrain the DVAC/Karnataka government from allowing Mr. Singh to represent the prosecution in the appeals filed by the four convicts.