Jayalalitha directed to appear before Bangalore court in assets case

BANGALORE: A special court here today directed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three other accused to appear before it on April 5 in the disproportionate assets case.

The other three accused asked to appear before him by Special Court judge Michael Cunha are Jayalalithaa's close confidante Sasikala Natarajan, Sasikala's nephew Sudhakaran and her sister-in-law Ilavarasi.

In her first appearance on October 20, 2011, after the case was shifted here, Jayalalithaa had deposed before the special court in a closed-door hearing.

The disproportionate case was shifted here in 2003 following a Supreme Court directive on a petition by DMK which contended that a fair trial was not possible in Chennai during her tenure as Chief Minister then.

Jayalalithaa faces charges of accumulation of over Rs 66 crore assets disproportionate to her known sources of income during 1991-95 when she was in her first term as chief minister.