Jaya moves HC seeking bail, challenging conviction

Seeking immediate bail, jailed AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today moved the Karnataka High Court challenging her conviction in the disproportionate assets case which cost her the chief minister's job and disqualified her from being an MLA.
Noted Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani is believed to have been drafted by Jayalalitha's legal team for arguing the bail and stay application that is likely to come up for hearing by a vacation bench tomorrow.
In her petition, she has maintained that the charges of amassing wealth against her were false and that she had acquired property through legal means.
Jayalalitha has contended that the trial court has overlooked several judgements and has not considered the binding nature of various income tax orders and decisions of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which had accepted the income and the level of expenditure pleaded by her.

The former chief minister said she had earned money by acting in films and bought property through legal means, Ashokan, Jayalalithaa's lawyer told PTI here.
C Duraipandian, member of the AIADMK legal, team said they have filed an appeal for suspension of the conviction and the sentence and have also refused to pay the Rs.100 crore fine imposed on her.
In a verdict on Saturday at the end of an 18-year old legal battle, Special Judge John Michael D'Cunha had convicted her, sentenced her to four years imprisonment and slapped a staggering fine of Rs 100 crore in the Rs 66.65 crore corruption case.

Unless the conviction is suspended immediately and later overturned by superior courts, Jayalalitha faces a bleak political future as she cannot contest elections for 10 years--four years in jail and six years after that.