Litigation 11 years Location Chennai | Dates 14 May 1998 – 21 Aug 2009 | |
Charges Misuse of office, Corruption, Criminal conspiracy Verdict High Court: Acquitted of all charges for all Trial Court: Jayalalitha, Sasikala acquitted; Five year imprisonment for seven others including Selvaganapathy Participants Jayalalithaa, V. K. Sasikala, T. M. Selvaganapathy | ||
Colour TV case was a sensational case against Jayalalithaa, the Late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India during 1991-96. Jayalalitha, her aide Sasikala Natarajan and her ministerial colleague, T. M. Selvaganapathy, were charged of misusing office to buy colour televisions at a higher price than quoted and receiving kickbacks to the tune of ₹10.16 crores. Jayalalitha, Sasikala and the seven others were arrested and remanded to judicial custody on 7 December 1998. The case and chargesheet were filed during the following DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government headed by Karunanidhi in 1998. On 30 May 2000, Jayalalitha and Sasikala were acquitted, while T. M. Selvaganapathy and six others were convicted in the lower court, which sentenced them to five year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of ₹10,000. It was one of the first instances where an ex-chief minister was arrested and sent to jail. It was also one of the earliest instance when a Member of Parliament was convicted in a corruption case. Selvaganapathy was a MP in Lok Sabha during the time of verdict.
Contents
The Madras High Court acquitted her and other all convicted in the case of all the charges on 4 December 2001.
Background
Jayalalithaa Jayaram (24 February 1948-5 December 2016), commonly referred to as Jayalalithaa, was an Indian politician and three time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu during various times from 1991–96, 2002–06 and 2011–14, 2015- 2016 from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party. There were irregularities during her first tenure as Chief minister during 1991-96 for the purchase of 45,000 colour television sets to village panchayats to the tune of 10.16 Cr. The ruling DMK government (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government headed by Karunanidhi filed the case in 1996 and chargesheet in 1998. Jayalalitha was arrested on 7 December 1996 and was remanded to judicial custody in connection with the case. The investigation alleged that the amount through the TV dealers were routed in the form of cheques to a relative of Sasikala, who had quoted Jayalalitha's residence as hers. She earlier filed an anticipatory bail in the trail court, which was rejected on 7 December 1996. There were as many as 2,500 party men gathered around her residence to block her arrest, in spite of the cordon set by the Tamil Nadu Police.
On 14 May 1998, a special court framed charges against the eleven accused in the case, namely, Jayalalitha, her aide Sasikala, the then Rural Affairs minister Selvaganapathy, the then Chief Secretary N Haribaskar, the then state Rural Development Secretary H M Pandey, the then former Rural Development Director M Satyamurthy, PA Jarnathanan, the minister's secretary and contractors, Doraisamy and Muthukumarasamy. The judge Radhakrishnan noted that there are enough evidence to frame the charges and he dismissed the petition filed by Jayalalitha and seven others to acquit them from the case. The Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) of Tamil Nadu, which handled the case argued that there were corruption to the tune of ₹10.16 Crores while buying 45,302 colour television sets for Panchayat community centres across the state during the regime of Jayalalitha during 1991-96. The judge framed charges under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 120(b) on Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 109 and 409. It was quoted in the chargesheet that the television sets were priced ₹14,500 against a market price of ₹12,000, creating a loss to the state exchequer. Baskaran, a relative of Sasikala was later included in the case.
Trial
The trial of the case started in the special court on 28 December 1998. As many as eighty witnesses from the prosecution side and two witness from the defence side were examined. The special court convicted seven of the nine accused of criminal conspiracy on 30 May 2000 under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to five year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹10,000. The seven were the then Rural Affairs minister Selvaganapathy, the then minister, the then Chief Secretary N Haribaskar, the then state Rural Development Secretary H M Pandey, the then former Rural Development Director M Satyamurthy, PA Jarnathanan, the minister's PA and two contractors, Doraisamy and Muthukumarasamy. The seven sentenced by the court were lodged in Vellore Central Prison the same evening. Jayalalitha, her friend Sasikala Natarajan and Sasikala's relative Baskaran, were acquitted as the accusation against them were not proven beyond doubt. The judge, in his verdict, stated that "Ms. Jayalalitha had no role in the conspiracy; even if it is presumed that there was violation of the financial code, it is not enough to show that she had participated in the conspiracy". Selvaganapathy, who was a member of the parliament during the time of verdict, was banned from the parliament after the verdict.
The state government appealed against the acquittal of Jayalalithaa from the case. On 5 May 2000, the Supreme Court asked the High Court to give more time to Jayalalithaa to examine the defence witness based on the Special Leave Petition filed by her in the Supreme Court. The appeal of the state government was quashed by the Madras High Court on 21 August 2009. The court also acquitted the five-year sentence of the seven convicted by the lower court.
Political implications
It was one of the first instances where an ex-chief minister was arrested and sent to jail. It was also one of the earliest instance when a Member of Parliament was convicted in a corruption case. Selvaganapathy was a MP in Lok Sabha during the time of verdict. When Jayalalithaa was in jail for 30 days, her residence at Poes Gardens in Chennai was raided. Sun TV, the channel run by the nephew of Karunanidhi was allowed to video tape the raid, which created a huge controversy. The channel showed loads of jewellery and personal assets of Jayaalithaa, which subsequently landed in a wide political debate.