Jayalalithaa case: High Court seeks legal clarifications on SPP appointment

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court today sought legal clarifications from Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Vigilance And Corruption (DVAC) on appointment of Bhavani Singh as Special Public Prosecutor in the disproportionate assets case against former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and three others.

As the court took up DMK General Secretary K Anbazhagan's appeal praying for setting aside of an order passed by Justice Anand Byrareddy who had rejected a plea seeking discontinuation of Singh as SPP, his counsel C Nagesh said DVAC does not have any power to appoint their own counsel since the Supreme Court has effectively taken away the jurisdiction of Tamil Nadu government.

Nagesh submitted that in the Kanchi Shankaracharya case, the SPP was appointed by Pudhucherry government, not Tamil Nadu government, because Sankararaman was murdered during Jayalalithaa's rule in September 2004.

Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi and 22 others were acquitted in Puducherry in the 2004 murder of Sankararaman, a Kancheepuram temple employee. The Shankaracharya was charged with his murder.

The trial was shifted from a Chengalpet court in Tamil Nadu to Puducherry by the Supreme Court in 2005, based on a plea by Jayendra Saraswathi who alleged that the accused would not get a free and fair trial in Tamil Nadu.

Nagesh also submitted that Singh should not be allowed to continue as the prosecution as it will seriously undermine the fair prosecution of the appeals.

"Can we expect free and fair prosecution if SPP is appointed by Tamil Nadu government which belongs to AIADMK whose leader Jayalalithaa is a convict?" Nagesh said.