Three witnesses were examined on the second day of the trial in the disproportionate asset case filed against former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
The three witnesses who deposed before the court were: James Fredrick, Vincent and Chalapathi Rao.
The trial will continue on January 3 and 18 witnesses will be examined.
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When the trial began for the day, defence counsel Navaneetha Krishnan moved an application before the Special Court judge B M Mallikarjunaiah that unless the defects in the statements of the witnesses translated from Tamil to English were rectified, the trial should not continue and if does it “will not be a fair trial“.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) B V Acharya opposed the application saying since the witnesses were present and the official translator was also present, corrections in the statements could be done as and when necessary and the trial should continue.
Even as the court dismissed the application of the defence counsel and was about to commence the trial, the counsel for the second accused, Sasikala in the case, Venkat Reddy filed an objection reiterating the submission made by defence counsel that since the witnesses had already been examined twice, “the question of re-examination did not arise“.
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The SSP opposed it and submitted that “when there is any inconsistency between the chief examination (first examination) and cross examination, the prosecution has every right to clarify through re-examination”.
Rejecting the objection filed by Ms. Sasikala’s counsel, the Judge allowed the trial.
All the three witnesses were accordingly re-examined.