By IANS,
New Delhi : In an apparent setback to former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, the Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed her petition that a 14-year-old corruption case against her be quashed.
A bench of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar dismissed Jayalalithaa’s plea that the Karnataka High Court had erred while upholding the trial court’s decision to initiate proceedings against her in the case.
The high court had approved the trial court’s order taking cognisance of the matter June 5, 1997, and said that it did not suffer from any illegality or irregularity.
On March 19, the apex court refused to stay the trial in the case and directed the trial court to fix a time frame for cross-examination of the 42 witnesses in the case against the AIADMK general secretary.
Jayalalithaa’s appeal pointed out that the high court did not address the specific issues raised by her.
She also contended that the proceedings were aimed at harassing her and the high court failed to take this aspect into account.
Jayalalithaa said the officers who investigated the case were not competent to carry out the probe under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The petition was dismissed as withdrawn.
The AIADMK leader is accused of amassing Rs.66.65 crore assets disproportionate to her income between 1991 and 1996 when she was the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.