J Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: The 18-year-old income tax case against former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her confidante N Sasikalaa is coming to a close with the IT department accepting their offer for an out of the court settlement.The income tax department had filed a criminal case against erstwhile Sasi Enterprises and its partners — Jayalalithaa and Sasikalaa Natarajan — for their failure to file returns for two consecutive years (1991-92 and 1992-93).The case picked up momentum after the Supreme Court fixed a six-month time frame for the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (economic offences) in Chennai to complete the trial. On July 30, both the accused filed compounding petition before the IT department to end the litigation out of court.On November 26, the IT department decided to accept the petition.The next day, Sasi Enterprises paid Rs 75,33,330 (1991-1992) and Rs 65,67,872 (1992-1993), the IT department informed the court on Monday. Sasikala had to pay Rs 28,07,972 and Jayalalithaa Rs 30,83,887.Following the submission, the court adjourned the matter to December 11.