Jayalalithaa’s seized assets transferred to Tamil Nadu govt

The seized assets included 27.558 kilograms of gold jewellery, 1,116 kilograms of silver, and documents related to 1,526 acres of land, officials said

The assets of former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa –– seized in a disproportionate assets (DA) –– were handed over to the state government by officials from the Karnataka treasury on Saturday, a day after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea by her legal heir seeking the return of attached properties.

J Jayalalithaa

The seized assets included 27.558 kilograms of gold jewellery, 1,116 kilograms of silver, and documents related to 1,526 acres of land, officials said. These valuables were formally transferred to Tamil Nadu government representatives through an in-camera procedure in the presence of the court and treasury officials in Bengaluru.

Tamil Nadu home secretary Dheeraj Kumar told HT that a joint secretary from the state home department was present at Bengaluru’s 34th CCH court, which was functioning as the special CBI court, to receive the assets from the treasury officials.

On Friday, the Supreme Court bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed a plea by her legal heir seeking the return of attached properties, reinforcing that abatement (the technical term for not considering a legal question, in this case because of Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016) does not equate exoneration.

The order came on a petition filed by J Deepa , Jayalalithaa’s niece and one of her legal heirs, who challenged a January 13 order of the Karnataka high court refusing release of the confiscated property currently with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) of the Tamil Nadu government. The department had obtained an order from the special court hearing the matter in Karnataka on January 29 to proceed with the auction of the property belonging to the former CM.

Jayalalithaa was convicted by a trial court in Karnataka in the DA case in September 2014 and sentenced to undergo four years imprisonment. On her appeal, the Karnataka high court set aside the decision and acquitted her in May 2015. This order was appealed in the Supreme Court, which led to the 2017 order. Jayalalithaa died on December 5, 2016.

While rejecting Deepa’s appeal on Friday, the apex court clarified that the abatement of the proceedings following the death did not imply her acquittal of the crime. The Supreme Court also permitted the CBI special court in Bengaluru to proceed with the transfer of her belongings to the Tamil Nadu government as scheduled.

The belongings have been in the possession of the treasury at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru ever since the trial in the case was transferred out of Chennai as per an early directive from the Supreme Court to facilitate the process free from any political or bureaucratic influences.

Treasury officials handed them over under strict security, with Tamil Nadu authorities recording the entire process on video as part of the documentation procedure. The transfer marks a significant development in the decades-long legal battle, and the valuables arrived at the state secretariat in Chennai on Saturday evening. The state government has yet to decide on the future course of action regarding the assets, which will currently be stored at the state treasury.

According to Kumar, all the confiscated items were thoroughly examined in the presence of Tamil Nadu government officials before being transferred.

The jewellery handed over was placed in a secure box brought by the officials and sealed as per procedure before being carried to Chennai. According to people familiar with the matter, the properties also included 11,344 silk saris, 750 pairs of sandals, 800 watches, 250 shawls, 12 refrigerators, 10 television sets, 8 VCRs, one video camera, 4 CD players, two audio decks, 24 tape recorders, 1,040 video cassettes, and five iron lockers.

The DA case stems from complaints from Jayalalithaa’s political rivals following which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids against her in 1996 and seized the assets. The charge sheet was submitted in 1997. On September 27, 2014, the special court in Bengaluru sentenced Jayalalithaa to four years of imprisonment, imposing a fine of ₹100 crore.

The trial court and high court had previously ruled that Jayalalithaa’s family was not entitled to property confiscated by the state. Though activist T Narasimha Murthy filed a plea in 2023 seeking compensation for the amount spent by the Karnataka government in this case through the auction of seized items, the special CBI court rejected the auction. It directed the transfer of seized items to the government of Tamil Nadu.