Jayalalithaa Owned Most Of Her Properties In Hyderabad Before The Case Period

Hyderabad: Tamil Nadu former Chief Minister Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, who was Accused-1 in the disproportionate assets case adjudicated by Supreme Court on Tuesday, was not a stranger to Telugu people; she acted in several Telugu movies during her prime. Jayalalithaa was also known to visiting Hyderabad, sometimes secretly though.

The DA case filed by Subramanya Swamy, the then president of Janata Party, pertained the properties amassed by Jayalalithaa with the help of Sasikala, her brother's wife Ilavarasi and her sister's son Sudhakaran during the period of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 24 June, 1991 till 13 May, 1996.

Interestingly, most of the properties owned by Jayalalithaa before the case period, except Poes Garden which she inherited from her mother NR Sandhya, who was also an actress, were located in Hyderabad.

Jaya owned the following properties before the case period:

(i) Land and building at No.36, Poes Garden, Chennai-86;

(ii) House at Plot No.36, Door No.8/3/1099 in Sri Nagar Officer’s Colony at Hyderabad City;

(iii) Lands totally measuring 10.20 acres in Sy.No.52 and Sy.No.50 of Jeedimetla village and Sy. No.93/1 of Pet Basheerabad Village in Metchal Taluk in Ranga Reddy Dist. of Andhra Pradesh with Grape Garden, Farm House and Servants quarters;

(iv) Land in Sy.No.93/2 to the extent of 3.15 acres in Pet Basheerabad village in Andhra Pradesh;

In addition to the above properties, A1 was also in possession of:

(v) Agricultural land measuring 3.43 acres in Cheyyur Taluk now in Anna Dist. (as per Doc. No.4564/81, dt.16.12.1981 of SRO North Madras);

(vi) An old Ambassador car and an old Contessa car;

(vii) A new Maruti car bearing registration No.TMA-2466 worth Rs.60,435/- and

(viii) Company shares.

Thus, the assets which were in the possession of A1 up to 1987 were found to be worth only Rs.7.5 lakhs. Besides, she also claimed to have possessed balance in her bank accounts to the extent of Rs.1 lakh and certain items of jewellery.

In the case of A2, Sasikala Natarajan is the wife of one Mr. M. Natarajan who had joined Government service as a Publicity Assistant in the Department of Information and Public Relation, Government of Tamil Nadu, in the year 1970 and thereafter promoted in succession eventually as Deputy Director in the year 1986 in the same department. He tendered his resignation from Government service on 1 November, 1988 which was accepted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with retrospective effect on 3rd April, 1991.

A2, as it appears from the facts, is the daughter one C. Vivekanandan, a Medical Compounder, and her marriage with said Natarajan was held in the early 1970’s. A2 was initially an occasional visitor to the residence of A1 at No.36, Poes Garden, Chennai-86, and started permanently living there with A1 from 1988 onwards and was acknowledged and declared by A1 as her friend-cum-sister. A2 continued to live with A1 since then.

A3 – Tr. V.N. Sudhakaran is the son of A2’s elder sister Smt. Vanithamani and T.T. Vivekanandan. He started residing at No.36, Poes Garden, Chennai-86 in the year 1992 while pursuing his studies at New College, Chennai. A1 had acknowledged and proclaimed A3 as her “foster son” and had conducted his marriage with one Sathiyalakshmi at Chennai on 7.9.1995, in a lavish celebrations.

A4, Tmt. J. Elavarasi is the wife of late V. Jayaraman, the elder brother of A2. The said V. Jayaraman was a Government servant and he died in December, 1991 due to electrocution while attending to works in the Grape Garden of A1 at Hyderabad. Following her husband’s death, A4 came to live at No.36, Poes Garden, Chennai-86, from the beginning of 1992.

The case of the prosecution is that, as on 1.7.1991, A1 was found in possession of properties and pecuniary resources in her name and in the name of A2 Smt. N. Sasikala, who was living with A1 at No. 36, Poes Garden, Chennai to the extent of Rs.2,01,83,957/- including the properties acquired in the name of M/s. Jaya Publications, M/s. Sasi Enterprises and Namadhu MGR, which had been floated by A1 and A2 with themselves as partners. But, after 1.7.1991, there was sudden spurt in the acquisition of assets and during this period, A1 and A2 floated several firms which neither did any business nor filed IT returns.