Jaya dubs illegal DA case politically motivated

BANGALORE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Wednesday dubbed the

disproportionate assets' case against her politically motivated at the

behest of the opposition DMK party on a false complaint by Janata Party

president Subramanian Swamy."The case was filed against me at

the instance of the DMK when it was in power then (1997-2001) on the

basis of a false complaint lodged by Swamy," Jayalaliatha asserted in

the special court while deposing in the Rs.66-crore disproportionate

assets' case.Appearing for the fourth time in the makeshift

court hall near the central jail on the city's outskirts amid tight

security, the AIADMK supremo told the trial court judge B.M.

Mallikarjunaiah that a warrant was issued to search her Poes Garden

residence in Chennai and not on the adjacent house where a raid was

carried out illegally."The case was foisted on me and an inquiry

was ordered under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on Swamy's

complaint, which was baseless and had no merits," she said in oral and

written submission to the court in the 15-year-old protracted case.On

her replying to the remaining 192 of the 1,339 queries framed under

section 313 of the CrPC, the judge adjourned the case to Nov 29 when

statements of the other three accused, including Jayalalithaa's aide

Sasikala and her foster son V. Sudhakaran will be recorded in the

regular special court within the city.During the previous three

depositions Oct 20-21 and Tuesday, Jayalalitha answered a total of 1,147

questions and submitted a detailed statement along with several

supporting documents in defence of her.According to public

prosecutor B.V. Acharya, the actress-turned-politician claimed that the

costly sarees seized by the police from her house were a collection of

dresses that were used for acting in about 120 films in different

languages, including Tamil and Telugu."Just because a saree once

used in a film will not be used again, she had kept all these as a

memento and police was wrong in valuing them along with scores of

footwear and expensive watches," Acharya quoted Jayalalitha telling the

court in the written statement.Relieved over the completion of

the deposition on the directions of the Supreme Court, a beaming

Jayalalitha waved to the people who thronged the venue for a glimpse of

her enroute to Chennai by a special aircraft.