The city civil court in Bengaluru on Thursday ordered the release of V.N. Sudhakaran, the disowned foster son of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who has been in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara since February 2017 in a disproportionate assets case.
Jayalalithaa’s former close aide and Sudhakaran’s aunt V.K. Sasikala and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi are the co-convicts. However, Sudhakaran has to remain in prison for some more time since he is yet to pay the fine imposed by the trial court.
Murthy Rao, advocate for Sudhakaran, submitted before the court that he had served over 90 days in prison in Tamil Nadu before the case was transferred to Bengaluru. Since the imprisonment was for the same case, it was concurrent, and the number of days of the sentence should be reduced.
The family members were busy arranging the fine amount to be paid in the court, Mr. Rao said.
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption had accused Jayalalithaa and the other three accused of having entered into a criminal conspiracy and accumulated movable and immovable assets worth ₹66.65 crore (revised to ₹53.6 crore by the trial judge), disproportionate to their known sources of income, during 1991-96.
The trial was conducted by a special court in Chennai and then transferred to Bengaluru on the Supreme Court’s order. In September 2014, trial judge John Michael D’Cunha convicted Jayalalithaa and the other accused and sentenced them to four years in jail and imposed a penalty on them.
The following year, the Karnataka High Court acquitted all. But in February 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s verdict. Since Jayalalithaa had died, it held that the charges against her would abate.