Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, along with her close confidante Sasikala, arrived at the the Parappana Agrahara court at 10.30 a.m. where Special Judge John Michael Cunha will deliver the landmark judgment in the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case at 11 am.
All her cabinet colleagues, MLAs and senior leaders also reached Bangalore and they were kept 20 metres away from the court.
Besides Ms Jayalalithaa and Sasikala, her relative Ilavarasi and erstwhile foster son V.N. Sudhakaran also present in the court.
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Traffic in Bangalore was thrown out of gear as thousands of AIADMK cadres stalled the flow of vehicular movement demanding access to the court. Police had a tough time controlling the crowd.
Agencies add:
The AIADMK leader flew in by a special aircraft at the HAL Airport along with the other accused — her close aide Sasikala Natarajan and Ilavarasi, the latter’s relative, and headed towards the court by road.
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Ms. Sasikala’s nephew and Ms. Jayalalithaa’s disowned foster son Sudhakaran, is the fourth accused in the case in which the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has been charged with accumulating Rs. 66.65 crore wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income during her first term in office between 1991 and 1996.
The verdict will be delivered at the makeshift court at Parappana Agrahara prison complex. The one kilometre area around it has been turned into a fortress with massive deployment of security personnel.
Police are also closely checking vehicles with Tamil Nadu registration at the check post at Attibeli on the border.
AIDMK supporters had gathered at the border but were stopped by police, who have been deployed in strength.
Special Court Judge John Michael D’Cunha had directed all the accused to be present in his court on the judgment day.
Several Tamil Nadu Ministers are already in Bangalore.
Platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police, the city Armed Reserve and the Rapid Action Force are stationed near the court, besides hundreds of police personnel, including those in plain clothes, police said.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped in and around the Parappana Agrahara prison complex.
The Rs. 66.65 crore assets case dates back to Ms. Jayalalithaa’s first term as the Chief Minister, from 1991 to 1996. It was filed before a special court in Chennai in 1997 by the Tamil Nadu’s Department of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC).
The case was transferred to Bangalore’s Special Court in 2003 by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by DMK leader K. Anbazhagan who had expressed doubts over conduct of fair trial with Ms. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister.
Ms. Jayalalithaa, who has waged many legal battles and seen several ups and downs in her political career, had to quit as the Chief Minister immediately after her swearing in 2001 following the Supreme Court declaring null and void the action of the then Governor Fatima Beevi appointing her as the Chief Minister as she had been sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case.
O. Paneerselvan, a junior Minister in her Council of Ministers, was appointed as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
By 2002, she was cleared of all charges and sworn-in again as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.