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Jayalalithaa's lawyers enlist RamJet, file 4 legal challenges in Bangalore HC [UPDATE-1]

Jailed AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa will file a criminal revision petition Monday in the Karnataka high court to seek bail in the four-year jail term she has been sentenced to for corruption.

“A team of senior lawyers met Jayalalithaa Sunday in the visitors’ room of the central jail where she is lodged since Saturday and discussed content of the bail application with her,” an AIADMK leader told IANS here later.

Senior counsel Ram Jethmalani is being roped in to argue the case for securing an early bail to Jayalalithaa considering her health and age-related ailments.

“Senior counsel are studying the judgement for drafting the bail application. We have sought Jethmalani’s services to secure the bail by getting the conviction stayed or lowering the sentence on health grounds,” said the leader who declined to be named.

Though the high court will remain closed from Monday till Oct 6 for the Dussehra holidays, a vacation bench will take up urgent or special cases on merits Tuesday and Thursday.

According to special public prosecutor G Bhavani Singh, only a high court or Supreme Court can hear bail petitions in corruption cases where the sentence is beyond three years.

Special judge John Michael D’Cunha Saturday held the Tamil Nadu chief minister and three other accused guilty of the criminal offence under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced them to four years jail.

The judge also imposed a hefty fine of Rs.100 crore on Jayalalithaa and Rs.10 crore each on the other three convicts, as the prosecution proved with material evidence that they had amassed illegally assets valued at Rs.54 crore in 1996.

The other three are Jayalalithaa’s confidante Sasikala Natarajan, VN Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi. All the three are also lodged in the central jail.

Update 14:20: Jailed former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa Monday filed a criminal revision petition in the Karnataka High Court here, seeking suspension of the four-year jail sentence and bail in the corruption case.

Jayalalithaa's senior counsel B Kumar filed a set of four applications with the high court registrar for an early hearing, seeking suspension of the sentence, bail for her release, review of the hefty Rs.100 crore fine and stay on conviction, an AIADMK leader told IANS here.

As the high court is on a week-long holiday till Oct 6, the petitions will be put up before a vacation bench, which will hear only urgent or special cases Tuesday.

"If the petition for suspending the sentence is allowed, we hope the bail application will also be considered as we want our party supremo out of jail at the earliest," the leader said on the condition of anonymity.

One interim petition seeks stay on confiscation of properties seized in 1997 from Jayalalithaa's residence in Chennai by the Enforcement Directorate and now in the custody of the trial court here.

The properties include about 800 kg of silver, 28 kg of gold ornaments, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 saris, 91 watches and other valuables.

Jayalalithaa has been disqualified from being a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly and removed from the chief minister's post Monday after the trial court submitted a copy of the 900-page judgement to Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah in Chennai.

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