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State of Karnataka v. Selvi J. Jayalalitha & Ors. (Disproportionate Assets Case)

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal Nos. 300-303 of 2017)Decided 14 Feb 2017
Criminal Appeal Nos. 300-303 of 2017
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose · Justice Amitava Roy

Background

Selvi J. Jayalalitha, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu ("A1"), along with Sasikala Natarajan ("A2"), J. Ilavarasi ("A3"), and V.N. Sudhakaran ("A4"), were tried for amassing wealth vastly disproportionate to Jayalalitha's known income as a public servant during the 1991-96 check period, by funnelling the money through shell firms and companies set up in the names of A2 to A4. The trial court convicted all four in 2014, but the Karnataka High Court acquitted them in 2015, holding the computed disproportion (about 8.12%) was not significant enough to sustain a conviction. The State of Karnataka and the original complainant, K. Anbazhagan, appealed the acquittal to the Supreme Court; Jayalalitha herself died in December 2016, while the appeal was still pending.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court's acquittal rested on a "completely wrong reading of the evidence" and faulty arithmetic, and that the evidence overwhelmingly proved a conspiracy among A1 to A4 to disperse and conceal A1's disproportionate assets through shell firms controlled by A2 to A4 (including a power of attorney to A2, ten firms incorporated in a single day, and funds flowing between accounts to purchase land). It set aside the High Court's judgment and restored the trial court's conviction and sentence in full against A2 (Sasikala), A3 (Ilavarasi), and A4 (Sudhakaran), directing them to surrender and serve out their sentences. Because A1 (Jayalalitha) had died during the appeal's pendency, the proceedings against her personally abated, even though the Court's reasoning traversed her role and the evidence against her in reaching its conclusions on the others' guilt.

Lesson Learnt

A public servant's disproportionate wealth can be proved through the conspiratorial web of associates and shell entities used to hide it, and the death of the principal accused during an appeal abates the case only as to that individual: it does not prevent the Court from deciding the guilt of co-conspirators on the same evidentiary record.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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