Investigating Officer in Jayalalithaa’s DA case passes away at 83

N Nallamma Naidu, a police officer with the Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Vigilance (DVAC) who probed the disproportionate assets (DA) case against former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her aides ending in the conviction of many of the accused, died here on Tuesday.

Eighty-three-year-old Naidu, who retired from the DVAC as Superintendent of Police (SP), breathed his last in the wee hours of Tuesday at his residence in Peravalur area of the city. Naidu took up the case in 1996 under the then new DMK government and headed the team that raided Jayalalithaa’s palatial bungalow in Poes Garden leading to “several pieces of evidence.”

Jayalalithaa, her aide V K Sasikala, and the latter’s relatives J Ilavarasi, and V N Sudhakaran were convicted by a trial court in Bengaluru in 2014. However, the Karnataka High Court acquitted all four persons but an appeal made in the Supreme Court confirmed the trial court’s order. By then, Jayalalithaa had passed away but the three others were sent to jail.

The DA case relating to Jayalalithaa was registered after a complaint by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy which alleged that the assets of the then Chief Minister rose to Rs 38.21 crore during 1994-95 though she was receiving just Re 1 as salary.

It was after the raids at Jayalalithaa’s residence, Naidu added Sasikala, Ilavarasi, and Sudhakaran in the DA case. Several items, including gold, and sliver, were found at Jayalalithaa’s palatial bungalow during the raid.

The case was very tough to crack for Naidu as he had to collect evidence against a powerful political personality and take the case to its logical conclusion. After the Supreme Court confirmed the trial court order in 2017, Naidu had said, “truth always wins.”

In several interviews after the 2017 SC verdict, Naidu had recounted the difficulties he faced in collecting documentary evidence against Jayalalithaa and her aides.

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