Jayalalitha again deposes in illegal assets case

BANGALORE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha Tuesday appeared in the special

court on the city's outskirts amid tight security and deposed for the

third time in the Rs.66 crore disproportionate assets case against her.As

the deposition was inconclusive, special judge B.M. Mallikarjunaiah

directed Jayalalitha to appear in the court again Wednesday to answer

the remaining 192 of the 1,339 queries framed in the 15-year-old case

after she responded to 580 questions during the day-long hearing.Though

Jayalalitha replied to 567 questions in the first two hearings Oct

20-21, the judge posted the case to Nov 8 for recording her answers to

the remaining 769 questions.After the Supreme Court rejected her

special plea for exemption from further appearance and sought

permission to file written replies, the trial court posted the case to

Tuesday."Many of the questions in today's (Tuesday) deposition

pertained to acquisition of properties by firms in which Jayalalitha was

a dormant partner and the extravagant wedding of her foster son V.

Sudhakaran," special public prosecutor B.V. Acharya told reporters

later.When the prosecution stated that about Rs.6 crore was

spent on the lavish wedding, Jayalalitha refuted the charge and told the

judge that as the entire expenses were borne by the bride's family, she

did not spend a single rupee. The AIADMK supremo, who was

accompanied by her friend Sasikala Natarajan and Sudhakaran to the city,

returned to Chennai by a special aircraft later in the day.As

the high-profile chief minister comes under Z plus security, city police

clamped prohibitory order and imposed section 144 of the Criminal

Procedure Code (CrPC) in the area around the make-shift court hall near

the Parappanna Agrahara central jail in the south-eastern suburb of the

city.The case was filed in a Chennai court in 1996 soon after

Jayalalitha lost power but was transferred by the apex court to

Bangalore in 2003 for fair and free trial at the request of the then

opposition party (DMK) when she became chief minister for the second

time in 2001.