india

Updated: Sep 29, 2014 14:05 IST

O Paneerselvam on Monday was sworn in as the new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, replacing the jailed All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J Jayalalithaa.

Jayalalithaa on Monday moved the Karnataka High Court challenging her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.

Jayalalithaa who was sentenced to 4 years in prison and a fine of Rs100 crores by a special court in Bangalore in the corruption case also appealed for bail and for a suspension of the sentence.

Eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani is being roped in to argue the case for securing an early bail to Jayalalithaa considering her health and age-related ailments, agency reports said.



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 confidente Sasikala Natarajan, V.N. Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi. All the three are also lodged in the central jail.