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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, AUG 21: The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for the Chennai special court to proceed with the trial against AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha in the Tansi (Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation) land deal case. The case, in which Jayalalitha is an accused, involves charges of defrauding the Tamil Nadu government of more than Rs 3 crore by purchasing Tansi land at a throwaway price during her tenure as Chief Minister.
NEW DELHI, AUG 21: The Supreme Court today cleared the decks for the Chennai special court to proceed with the trial against AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha in the Tansi (Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation) land deal case. The case, in which Jayalalitha is an accused, involves charges of defrauding the Tamil Nadu government of more than Rs 3 crore by purchasing Tansi land at a throwaway price during her tenure as Chief Minister.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice M K Mukherjee and Justice S S M Quadri vacated a High Court order postponing the proceedings and allowed a private complainant to withdraw his petition against Jayalalitha as the police has already filed a chargesheet making similar allegations.
The complainant, R Sai Bharathi, had alleged that Jayalalitha bought the Tansi land on May 29, 1992, on behalf of Jaya Publication violating a 1969 government rule prohibiting the Chief Minister from buying government land.
The police after conducting a detailed investigation filed a comprehensive chargesheet in the case. The accused included Jayalalitha, her close associate N Sasikala, former chairman and managing director of Tansi T R Srinivasan and former rural industries minister Mohammed Asif.
In the chargesheet filed before the special judge, the police said Jayalalitha purchased ``the property of Tansi foundry at Guindy for a sum below the guideline value and caused a loss of Rs 3,13,03,100 to the government.''
Jayalalitha, using her official position, had undervalued the price of the Tansi land, the chargesheet added.
All the accused in the scam were charged under Section 420 (cheating), 120 B (conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code while Jayalalitha was additionally charged under Section 169 (public servants unlawfully buying or bidding for property) and various section of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The police also alleged that Jayalalitha violated a Tamil Nadu government order of 1969 which barred the Chief Minister from buying from or selling to the government any immovable property.
The court also allowed Jayalalitha to withdraw her special leave petition seeking quashing of proceedings initiated in the private complaint.
The bench had earlier observed that both the private complaint and Jayalalitha's petition had become infructuous as the police had filed a chargesheet bearing the same allegations.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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