Jaya to face trial in Karnataka

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is left with no option but to face trial in Bangalore in the Rs 65 crore disproportionate assets case.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed her petition seeking stay on the trial and permission to argue for transfer of the case outside Karnataka.

A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Justice N Santosh Hegde, Justice Y K Sabharwal, Justice S N Variava and Justice H K Sema dismissed her curative petition against the SC's November 18, 2003 order transferring the trial from Chennai to Bangalore.

The November 18 order was passed by a bench comprising Justice Variava and Justice Sema on a petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader K Anbazhagan seeking transfer of the case outside TN alleging "undue haste" shown by the prosecution to complete the trial.

The same bench had on February 17, 2004 dismissed an application seeking modification of the order on the ground that the situation in Karnataka was hostile to her in view of her stand in the Cauvery water dispute between TN and Karnataka.

It had on April 28 dismissed her petition seeking review of the November 18 order and seeking transfer of the case outside Karnataka to any other state or Union territory, including Pondicherry.

Jayalalithaa exercised her last option in August 2004 by filing the curative petition. The five-judge bench dismissed it saying "no case was made out" according to the parameters fixed by the SC for entertaining her curative petition.