Karnataka High Court refuses to grant bail for Jayalalithaa, others

Jayalalithaa will stay in jail for now after the Karnataka High Court today refused to suspend the sentence or grant bail to the jailed former Tamil Nadu chief minister and others convicted along with her.

The High Court rejected her bail plea, saying the Supreme Court has sent out a clear message that corruption cases should be put on the fast track.

The court rejected bail even though special public prosecutor Bhavani Singh told the court that he had no objection to Jayalalithaa being granted conditional bail.

In her petition seeking immediate bail and challenging her sentence, Jayalalithaa had maintained that the charges of amassing wealth against her were false and that she had acquired property through legal means.

The AIADMK supremo and her co-accused, Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran, were represented by a panel of lawyers led by eminent counsel Ram Jethmalani.

Earlier, some laywers supporting Jayalalithaa had jumped to conclusion over the granting of conditional bail, when high court was hearing all the arguments and clarifications presented by lawyers representing Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran.

However, after the court, which met after lunch, heard some clarifications from Jayalalithaa's lawyers.

After all the arguments, clarifications of all convicts concluded in the disproportionate assets case. The judge asked special public prosecutor G Bhavani Singh for his comments to which he said he had no objection to grant conditional bail to convicts.

Jubilant AIADMK workers burst crackers outside Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence in Chennai. After 11 days, the AIADMK party chief will now be released from the prison.

The former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who is 66 years-old, is a diabetic and is suffering from blood pressure and heart-related ailments, her lawyers told High Court.

Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani who finished his arguments has argued that Jayalalithaa is entitled for bail during pendency of appeal against conviction as per verdicts of Supreme Court on the subject of grant of bail after conviction.

Special Public Prosecutor G. Bhavani Singh has argued that Jayalalithaa being an influential person in Tamil Nadu, if granted bail, she may try to escape from conviction or abscond from the country.

Countering this argument, Jethmalani said, former chief minister is a law abiding citizen and will not abscond from the country.