A decision by a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra on whether Bhavani Singh could continue as the Special Prosecutor in the disproportionate assets case will be crucial — whether the case will suffer further delay or not. This is the second time Justice Misra is playing a part in the fate of the assets case.
If the Bench, which will start the hearing on Tuesday, concludes that Mr. Singh does have the authority to appear as prosecutor, the Karnataka High Court can go ahead and pronounce its judgment before May 12. If it decides otherwise, the entire appeal proceedings of the past three months will be declared void and will have to be re-heard after the appointment of a new prosecutor.
In February 2012, Justice Misra had accompanied Justice Dalveer Bhandari to conclude that a plea by the Tamil Nadu government for a further investigation into the assets case was an excuse to delay the case.
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The Karnataka High Court had earlier refused the same plea.
The Bench dismissed a request of the Superintendent of Police, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, but not before having an open court exchange with Tamil Nadu’s counsel, Ashok Desai.
Mr. Desai had argued that an investigating officer was free to decide whether a further investigation was required or not. Justice Misra shot back: “You [police] have a right for further probe but at what stage, is the question. If it is an attempt to frustrate the trial, the whole trial will become a mockery.” Instead, the Bench asked the special court to finish the trial expeditiously.
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But the trial would take another two years, until last September, to conclude.
In 2014, the special court in Bengaluru found Ms. Jayalalithaa guilty of amassing wealth estimated at Rs. 53 crore, disproportionate to her known sources of income, during her first term as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister between 1991 and 1996. She was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.