Sasikala Natarajan, estranged aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday charged customs officials with having inflated the value of jewels seized from Ms. Jayalalithaa’s residence in the wealth case.
Continuing her deposition before special court Judge B.M. Mallikarjunaiah, trying the case, she said the officials had estimated the value of seized jewellery at Rs 3.35 crore, which she said was ‘inflated’ to frame them in the case.
The customs department, instead of seeking the help of its value appraisers, had taken the advice of Income Tax department-approved valuers, she charged.
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Ms. Sasikala also questioned police conducting searches on two houses of Ms. Jayalalithaa in 1996 when she was in prison and also charged Customs officials with not intimating them about their visit.
Earlier, court proceedings were halted for an hour following the violence in the city civil court premises after a section of lawyers attacked mediapersons and police.
Ms. Sasikala answered 16 questions on Friday, taking the total number answered to 300, after which her counsel Manishankhar sought an adjournment till Mar 7 in view of the situation and also certain other personal inconvienences, which was granted by the court.
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