SC reserves order in case against Jaya's minister

new delhi: the count-down has begun for tamil nadu chief minister jayalalitha's former cabinet colleague k ponnusamy who had petitioned the supreme court against his conviction in a corruption case. the court on tuesday reserved its judgment in the case relating to amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. a bench comprising justice k t thomas and justice s n variava earlier heard the arguments by ponnusamy's counsel p p rao.the prosecution had alleged that ponnusamy, who was a minister during 1993-96 when aiadmk chief jayalalitha was the chief minister, along with his brother, wife, daughter and cousin amassed a wealth of rs 77 lakh, disproportionate to his known sources of income. while the trial court acquitted all other accused, it had convicted ponnusamy, who is still behind bars. ponnusamy had also sought bail from the apex court. rao contended that no evidence was presented by the prosecution to link the disproportionate assets to the minister and said his conviction was bad when all other accused were acquitted. however, prosecution counsel k ramamoorthy argued that ponnusamy had negligible income before he became a minister and he had been rightly convicted by the court.