AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa gets SC relief

The Supreme Court on Friday extended the bail granted to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and four other accused till the Karnataka High Court disposes off their appeals against conviction in a disproportionate assets case.

This means that the High Court will have to wait till a newly-formed three-judge bench of the Supreme Court first gives a final decision on the question whether the entire appeal proceedings held in the past three months was vitiated due to the presence of Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh.

Friday's hearing comes after the apex court's extension of bail of Ms. Jayalalithaa and the other three accused in the case -- Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran -- till April 18, 2015. They were accused guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs. 53 crore during her first term as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister between 1991-96. Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by a special Bengaluru court on September 27. The trial had taken 18 years to conclude.