Tamil Nadu govt takes custody of Ex-CM Jayalalithaa's seized assets following court order

Bengaluru: A special court in Bengaluru on Saturday handed over to the Tamil Nadu government around 27 kg of gold and silver ornaments and other valuable items seized during the investigation and trial in the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister late J Jayalalithaa. 

The gold articles included a sword, a waist belt and a crown with emeralds as centerpieces. The handed over assets also included documents related to more than 1,500 acres of land.

The order to hand over the assets was passed by HA Mohan, the 36th Additional City Civil and Sessions Judge (Special Court for Trial of Criminal Cases against Jayalalithaa and others, Bengaluru). 

As per the order, the officers of Tamil Nadu have "received the gold jewellery, some studded with diamond stones, emerald and ruby, and three silver articles weighing around 27,000 grams, after weighing each of the items through licensed appraiser Prabhakaran from Tamil Nadu". 

"These items were received by this court to conduct the trial. Since the trial has been concluded and this court has already passed necessary orders for handing over these items to the state of Tamil Nadu, the same has been complied by handing over the same to the officers of Tamil Nadu," said Justice Mohan in his order. 

Apart from the above, the court also directed the RBI to exchange old currency notes of Rs 59,870 and Rs 1,60,514, which were in the treasury box and are now invalid due to demonetisation, which have been transferred to Tamil Nadu. Banks were also directed to transfer Fixed Deposits (FD) of Rs 10.18 crore in court’s custody to the Tamil Nadu government. 

The court ordered a luxury bus seized during the investigation to be auctioned since there were no claimants. The judge also suggested that "since a large extent of public emotion is involved pertaining to this case" to use the seized properties and develop them either for public purposes or create layouts and distribute them to the "siteless poor people" or sell them in public auction. 

From the Rs 20 crore fine amount deposited by the accused, the court ordered the release of Rs 13 crore to the Karnataka government towards trial expenses.

The valuation and documentation of seized assets were held on Friday and Saturday before the judge, the special public prosecutor Kiran S Javali and senior officers from Tamil Nadu including the Joint Secretary to Government, J Anne Mary Swarna. A large team of police officials from Tamil Nadu safeguarded the valuables as they were being moved to the neighbouring state. 

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea of Jayalalithaa's niece seeking to release the confiscated properties.