Nemesis catches up with Jayalalithaa, after life

Former Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, did manage to escape punishment in the DA case filed against her, only in the after-life. Sasikala, who dreamt of becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, came face to face with her nemesis with the Apex Court proclaiming her guilty and upheld the lower court's verdict sentencing her to four years of imprisonment.

However, Jayalalithaa must be spinning in her grave at the scathing observations of the Supreme Court. The Court has rightly observed that A1 in the DA case and the rest, A2 (Sasikala), A3 (Elavarasi) and A4 (Sudhakaran) had no social life or social interactions at Poes Garden. It was a mere criminal association and that the Poes Garden was the hub of it.

They were not relatives and those who were related to Jayalalithaa had been thrown out of her life long ago. The fact that Sasikala lived in the same house as Jayalalithaa only goes to prove that Jayalalithaa used her closest aide, Sasikala, and two of her relatives only to accumulate wealth through ill-gotten means. All the companies involved in the case have been floated by Sasikala and her husband and their relatives.

Their bonding was so strong that Sasikala preferred throwing out her husband and other relatives from the house to please Jayalalithaa when the latter was angry with them. It was neither any love for Jayalalithaa nor any ideology that forced Sasikala to stay with Jayalalithaa. The only concern seems to have been the lucre of gold.

This made Sasikala even go the extent of disowning her husband in a public though the world beyond the boundaries of the Poes Garden knew fully that the family was fiercely bonded and orchestrated their criminal activities in unison. Sasikala and her immediate family, which acquired the cognomen - Mannargudi Mafia - was fiercely ambitious in everything they did. Sasikala herself is said to have controlled at least 70 MLAs' having got party tickets to them in the last elections.

If we recall the trial court verdict, we come to know that in all 18 firms were floated by the group during the check period between 1991 and 1996. None of the firms dealt in any business other than accumulating properties...vast properties and prime land. Ten of these companies were floated on a single day, in fact.

The Special Court Judge, John Michael D'Cunha who unseated Jaya in 2014, observed that all the firms were extensions of Namadu MGR and Jaya Publications. Money simply poured into the firms and flowed out to become hot property. The companies themselves did not have any money in their accounts nor did they have any resources of their own.

Jaya had tried to disown all these, but the Judge had asked "what were they doing together at Poes Garden then? All the three? Sasikala, Elavarasi and Sudhakaran? What were they doing residing in the house along with Jayalalithaa and with her permission except carry out illegal activities?"

The Apex Court too today observed on similar lines. Jayalalithaa had executed a general power of attorney in favour of Sasikala. The court even held that the constitution of firms and acquisition of large tracts of land out of the funds provided by A1 (Jayalalithaa) indicated that all the accused congregated in the house of Jayalalithaa neither for a social living nor Jayalalithaa allowed them free accommodation out of humanitarian concern.

"Facts and circumstances proved in evidence undoubtedly point out that Sasikala to A4 (the other accused) were accommodated in the house of Jayalalithaa pursuant to the criminal conspiracy hatched by them to hold the assets of Jayalalithaa", it said. Neither Jayalalithaa nor Sasikala had any other bonding. It was mutual dependence thus. Jaya wanted a trusted lieutenant to execute her plans. Sasikala was ever willing. And both amassed ill-gotten wealth and lived together to protect it.

Once Jaya passed away, Sasikala's only aim was to hold on to the amassed property. She thought she could get away with her crimes by becoming the Chief Minister even for a short duration which would have given her a chance to manipulate documents and extend complete control of Mannargudi Mafia over the wealth.

Jayalalithaa aka Amma might have been loved by the masses for her welfare measures and 'compassionate' governance, but she ended her innings in disgrace. She had the privilege of being referred to as one of the greatest Chief Ministers ever to rule Tamil Nadu till this day. Now AH (Alternate History) would come into picture, more prominently.

Till today, supporters of Jayalalithaa could dismiss allegations as rumours or conjectural. The 'what if' scenario has been altered irreversibly, however. The grand old patriarch of the Dravidian politics, the 92-year-old M Karunanidhi said after Jaya passed away, "her fame will far outlive her death." Tragically, this 'allohistory' now adds a regrettable world to the epitaph of the one merging into the sands of Marina slowly – 'GUILTY'!

By W Chandrakanth