Bangalore: Reacting to the Karnataka High Court's decision to reject former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa bail plea, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday said he was not surprised by the court's decision.
Soon after Jayalalithaa's bail plea got rejected in connection with an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case, days after a trial court had sent her to four-years in prison, Swamy said, “ Am not surprised, this was I had expected.”
Subramanian Swamy on J Jayalalithaa's bail plea rejected : Am not surprised,this was I had expected. pic.twitter.com/05pQwoVmet
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"The only surprise in this whole thing was the public prosecutor's watering down his arguments. He should have pressed for continuation of her sentence but he agreed to conditional bail, I am a bit surprised at that. Since then the judges have taken a correct stand, the Karnataka High Court has done the right thing," Swamy added.
The judgement was a shocker since earlier it was reported by various media that Jaya had been given conditional bail based on the comment by the public prosecutor that he would not be opposed to it.
In the morning today, the Karnataka High Court had rejected advocate Ram Jethmalani's request for an early hearing of Jayalalithaa's bail plea, saying the hearing would take place according to the number allotted to the case.
Jayalalithaa, her aide Sasikala and two others were convicted in the Rs 66.65 crore corruption case by a special court in Bangalore on September 27.
While the AIADMK chief was asked to pay Rs 100 crore, the other three were fined Rs 10 crore each.
In her petitions 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.
Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa's supporters resumed their protest outside her house in Chennai after having celebrated for a brief while over media reports that said that the Tamil Nadu chief minister has been granted conditional bail. The reports arose following the public prosecutor's statement that he had no objection if the conditional bail is granted.
"We have made all security arrangements to avoid any untoward incidents. We have information on a lot of AIADMK supporters and leaders flocking to the city from the border areas of Hosur," ACP (Law and Order) Alok Kumar told PTI in Bangalore.
"Let them come. We have handled the situation on earlier occasions--on the verdict day and bail plea hearing days. We will handle the situation this time too," Kumar said.
Section 144 of the CrPC has been clamped within one km radius of the High Court and Parapanna Agrahara Prison, where Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi are also lodged.
In his verdict on 27 September, Special Judge John Michael D’Cunha had convicted Jayalalithaa, sentencing her to four years imprisonment, and slapped a staggering fine of Rs 100 crore in the corruption case.
With Agency inputs
