Gift case: Spl CBI court dismisses discharge petitions
By chennaivision at 3 July, 2009, 7:18 pm
Chennai, A Special Court for CBI cases here today dismissed discharge petitions filed by former AIADMK ministers K A Sengottaiyan and Alagu Thirunavukkarasu in the gift case, in which former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has been cited as main accused.
The CBI, on July 31, 2006, chargesheeted Ms 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.
The two former ministers filed the discharge petitions on the ground that they were holding office as ministers at the time of alleged offence. The CBI neither obtained sanction for prosecution from the Governor nor from the Assembly Speaker.
”Mr Sengottaiyan is a sitting member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, the CBI must obtain permission from the Speaker to prosecute him,” they contended.
While dismissing the petitions, CBI Special Judge Mohammed Isath Ali referred to some rulings of High Court and apex court, and said sanction for prosecution against the former ministers is not a mandatory one.
While Ms Jayalalithaa was chargesheeted under section 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), two former ministers K A Sengottaiyan and Alagu Thirunavukkarasu were chargesheeted by the CBI under section 12 of the Act.
According to CBI investigation, Ms 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 that Ms Jayalalithaa had committed an offence under Section 11 of the 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.” The judge posted the case to August 8 for trial.
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