Jaya case: Karnataka may move SC on Monday

CHENNAI: The day when Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa hits the campaign trail in RK Nagar, the Karnataka government is likely to move the Supreme Court challenging her acquittal in the Rs 66-crore disproportionate assets case. Jayalalithaa is scheduled to campaign in R K Nagar, from where she is seeking election the assembly in a bypoll, on Monday.
While sources in the Union home ministry told TOI that a special leave petition (SLP) was expected on Monday, special public prosecutor in the case B V Acharya told TOI over phone from Bengaluru: “We may file the SLP in a couple of days.We have been preparing the appeal and the counsel on record in Delhi is giving final touches. We may not wait for the regular court to reopen and an appeal can be filed before the vacation bench itself."
Jayalalithaa, who was handed a four-year prison term by a trial court on September 27, 2014, was acquitted of all charges by the Karnataka high court on May 11, 2015.
Following the acquittal, Acharya recommended filing of an SLP in the Supreme Court. Karnataka’s advocate general Ravi Varma Kumar too expressed similar views. A cabinet meeting of the Congress government in Karnataka on June 2 cleared a decision to file an appeal before the SC.