J Jayalalithaa

Monday, July 31, 2006 (22:02:35)  :  The CBI on Monday chargesheeted former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and two former ministers in a 10-year-old case of alleged receipt of gifts worth over Rs two crore by her. After months of bureaucratic wrangling over the issue, the CBI finally filed the chargesheet before the Principal Special Judge of CBI cases in Chennai after the agency got a sanction for prosecution from the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker, as she is an MLA. While Jayalalithaa was chargesheeted under section 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), two former ministers K A Sengottaiyn and Alagu Tirunaavukkarasu were chargesheeted by the CBI under section 12 of the Act.

According to the CBI investigation, Jayalalithaa received 89 demand drafts worth Rs two crore drawn on various banks in Tamil Nadu and purchased in the names of 57 people, as well Rs 15 lakh in cash, the CBI sources said.

The cash and demand drafts were credited to her savings bank account in Canara Bank, Chennai, and these had been disclosed by her in income tax returns as gifts.

The CBI claimed Jayalalithaa had committed an offence under Section 11 of PCA by allegedly accepting the cash and drafts "as consideration from persons with whom she had official transactions or had transacted or would have transacted". (PTI)