A special bench of the Karnataka High Court today acquitted former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case. he judge also acquitted her associates – Sasikala Natarajan, her niece Ilavarasi, her nephew and the chief minister’s disowned foster son Sudhakaran. The case has been on-going for past 20 years. Below we present the timeline of disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa.
- 14 June 1996 – Subramanian Swamy files complaint against Jayalalitha against the amassed wealth.
- 18 June 1996 – The then DMK led government registeres First Investigation Report (FIR) against Jayalalithaa.
- 21 June 1996 – On the directions of Principal Sessions Court, Latika Saran, the then DSP of Tamil Nadu investigates the complaint.
- 4 June 1997 – Charge sheet filed in the case against four of the accused Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran
- 21 October 1997 – The special court frames charges against all the accused
- 14 May 2001 – Jayalalithaa led ADMK comes back to power in Tamil Nadu
- 28 February 2003 – K. Anbazhagan, the secretary of DMK, files appeal in Supreme Court to transfer proceedings outside Tamil Nadu quoting fair trial
- 18 November 2003 – Supreme Court orders the trial to be moved Bangalore, Karnataka
- March 2005 – Trial commences in special court in Bangalore
- December 2010 to February 2011 – Re-examination of witnesses by prosecution
- 20, 21 October and 22, 23 November 2011 – Jayalalithaa appears in person in court and answers questions
- 13 August 2012 – Special Public Prosecutor, B.V. Acharya resigns quoting efforts transferring him
- 2 February 2013 – G. Bhawani Singh appointed as the special public prosecutor
- 26 August 2013 – Karnataka government removes G. Bhawani Singh as prosecutor
- 7 September 2013 – Supreme court reinstates G. Bhawani Singh as the special public prosecutor.
- 28 August 2014 – Trial concludes and court decides 20 September as the date of sentence
- 16 September 2014 – Court allows appeal of Jayalalithaa to move proceedings to different court and sentence to 27 September on the grounds of security.
- 27 September 2014 – Court pronounces verdict – all four convicted were sentenced. Jayalalithaa is presently lodged in the Parappana Agrahara central jail in Bangalore, as also three others.
- 29 September 2014 – Jayalalithaa files bail plea in Karnataka HC.
- 1 October 2014 – Bail plea was not accepted, and was postponed for six more days.
- 7 October 2014 – Bail plea rejected by Karnataka High Court Bench.
- 17 October 2014 – Supreme Court grants bail to Jayalalithaa.
- 27 April 2015 – Supreme Court holds appointment of Bhawani Singh as prosecutor in appeal as wrong in law but doesn’t allow a fresh hearing.
- 11 May 2015 – Jayalalithaa gets acquitted of all corruption charges by the Karnataka High Court.