SC lets lawyer pull plea on Jaya case prosecutor

A lawyer, who challenged continuance of special public prosecutor G Bhavani Singh in the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, was on Monday permitted by the Supreme Court to withdraw his plea and approach the Karnataka High Court (HC).

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India H L Dattu told advocate G S Mani that the HC was competent to decide his petition.

Mani alleged that Singh had colluded with the people in power in Tamil Nadu and should not be allowed to continue on behalf of the prosecution before the HC in the pending appeal filed by Jayalalitha against her conviction and sentence.

The bench, also consisting of Justices A K Sikri and R K Agrawal, however, asked him why he had not approached the HC with the plea. As the court was about to dismiss his plea, the lawyer sought permission to withdraw the petition, which the court granted.