HC allows Sasikala to be quizzed via video-conference

Press Trust of India  |  Chennai 

The Thursday allowed former AIADMK V K to appear before a court in for questioning through video conference on May 13.

Justice Anand Venkatesh, disposing of the petition from lodged in Bengaluru jail, directed her to appear before the court through video conference in connection with a case filed by the

The case registered in 1996 relates to the alleged payments made by Sasikala, a of late Jayalalithaa, and co-accused Bhaskaran in violation of FERA for the purchase of a transponder facility and uplinking charges for the now-defunct JJ TV channel.

When the matter came up, senior Raja Rathnam, on behalf of Sasikala, submitted that she was already allowed to appear through video conference.

But, the subsequent presiding found some defects in the procedure and directed the appearance of the petitioner in person in the present case, Rathnam said.

Referring to the earlier order of the high court in similar matters, the said it had stated that there is no requirement to produce the petitioner before the court and questioning can be done through video conference.

for the Hema submitted that the only difficulty is to get signature from the petitioner in the papers after questioning is completed.

To this, Justice Venkatesh said the signatures can be obtained after sending the papers to the jail and it can be witnessed by the who will be accompanying the petitioner in the prison at the time of the video conference.

The ED had booked in 1996 on the charge of violation of foreign exchange regulations and the case had since been dragging.

A total of four connected cases are pending trial.

In January, the had allowed Sasikala to appear through video-conference for framing of charges, but stipulated that the trial should be completed in four months.

Sasikala is serving her four-year imprisonment awarded in the disproportionate assets case.

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First Published: Thu, May 09 2019. 22:31 IST