Former TN chief minister Jayalalitha arriving at the special court in Chennai on Wednesday to face charges.

CHENNAI, June 25: Former chief minister J Jayalalitha on Wednesday appeared before the three Special Courts, constituted to try the corruption cases against her and others, and received copies of the charge-sheet and other documents pertaining to the corruption cases against her.

Jayalalitha and others were required to appear before Judge S Sambandam, Special Court-I, in connection with the case of accumulation of wealth disproportionate to her sources of income, before Judge V Radhakrishnan, Special Court-II, for the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case and before Judge P Anbazhagan, Special Court-III, for the Tansi land deal case.

When she arrived at the Collectorate building, she was cheered by slogan-shouting party workers.

She was escorted to the courts by her security guards, assisted by a large contingency of police force, who kept the crowd away. At 10.30 am sharp, she appeared before Sambandam at Special Court-I situated at the first floor of the building. Besides Jayalalitha, the other three accused present were -- her close friend N Sasikala, her disowned foster son V N Sudhagaran and Sasikala's close relative J Ilavarasi.

The judge ordered supply of xerox copies of charge-sheets and other documents relating to the illegal wealth case, to them. The judge posted the matter for further hearing on July 17.

She then moved to Special Court-II on the same floor for a hearing on the Kodaikanal Pleasant Stay Hotel case. As the fourth accused in the hotel case, Rakesh Mittal, executive director of the hotel, did not appear before Court-II, Radhakrishnan refused to order supply of copies of charge-sheets, which were kept ready, and directed Jayalalitha and other accused to appear on July 17 for the purpose.

Rejecting Mittal's application for dispensation of his appearance in court on Wednesday, the judge ordered issuance of a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. The other accused, including former local administration minister T M Selvaganapathy, appeared before the judge.

Jayalalitha then moved to Special Court-III on the same floor, where the Tansi case was to be heard. As charge-sheets had already been supplied and all the accused made their presence on Wednesday, Judge Anbazhagan adjourned the matter to July 17.

This was after a brief argument had been advanced by the counsel for the accused and the special public prosecutor with regard to Jayalalitha's writ petition challenging the then governor's grant of sanction to prosecute her in this case and the appointment of the judges to the special courts.

In future, Jayalalitha need not come to Special Court-I and III in connection with the respective cases. Throughout the proceedings, Jayalalitha maintained a calm and composed look.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.