AIADMK chief Sasikala awarded 4 years jail term by Supreme Court

New Delhi: AIADMK chief VK Sasikala was convicted for in a disproportionate assets case by the SC on Tuesday. The apex court has has pronounced a verdict of four years jail term for the AIADMK chief.

The prospects of Sasikala becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu have ended with the verdict that came in the morning.

The verdict was given by a two-judge division bench of Justices Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy, which upheld the special court's judgement, setting aside the Karnataka High Court's verdict. The verdict convicts the embattled leader in the 20-year-old corruption case. The Supreme Court's division bench also ordered the AIADMK leader to pay a fine of Rs 10 crore.

According to the party sources, the AIADMK chief will not be able to contest any election for the next ten years. Sasikala, however, can take the case further and refer it to a larger bench, even though her political career has effectively ended. Both judges have delivered separate judgements.

It could be mentioned that Sasikala was also the acting general secretary of the party.

Other highlights of the case:

• The case was titled State of Karnataka vs Jayalalithaa and others.
• It included the names of Sasikala and her relatives J Elavarasi and V N Sudhakaran, the disowned foster son of Jayalalithaa.
• Sasikala has already spent six months of her jail term inside the prison.
• The Bengaluru trial court had convicted Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and others on September 27, 2014, and awarded the former TN CM her four years imprisonment along with Rs 100 crore fine, with Rs 10 crore fine on the other three.
• The Karnataka HC on May 11, 2015 had acquitted her, Sasikala and the others in the DA case. The HC in its 919 page verdict had said, "The percentage of disproportionate assets (DA) is 8.12%. It is relatively small. In the instant case, the DA is less than 10% and it is within permissible limit. Therefore, accused are entitled for acquittal."