Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday dubbed the disproportionate assets' case against her politically motivated at the behest of the opposition DMK party on a false complaint by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.
"The case was filed against me at the instance of the DMK when it was in power then (1997-2001) on the basis of a false complaint lodged by Swamy," Jayalaliatha asserted in the special court while deposing in the Rs.66-crore disproportionate assets' case.
Appearing for the fourth time in the makeshift court hall near the central jail on the city's outskirts amid tight security, the AIADMK supremo told the trial court judge B.M. Mallikarjunaiah that a warrant was issued to search her Poes Garden residence in Chennai and not on the adjacent house where a raid was carried out illegally.
"The case was foisted on me and an inquiry was ordered under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on Swamy's complaint, which was baseless and had no merits," she said in oral and written submission to the court in the 15-year-old protracted case.
On her replying to the remaining 192 of the 1,339 queries framed under section 313 of the CrPC, the judge adjourned the case to Nov 29 when statements of the other three accused, including Jayalalithaa's aide Sasikala and her foster son V. Sudhakaran will be recorded in the regular special court within the city.
During the previous three depositions Oct 20-21 and Tuesday, Jayalalitha answered a total of 1,147 questions and submitted a detailed statement along with several supporting documents in defence of her.
According to public prosecutor B.V. Acharya, the actress-turned-politician claimed that the costly sarees seized by the police from her house were a collection of dresses that were used for acting in about 120 films in different languages, including Tamil and Telugu.
"Just because a saree once used in a film will not be used again, she had kept all these as a memento and police was wrong in valuing them along with scores of footwear and expensive watches," Acharya quoted Jayalalitha telling the court in the written statement.
Relieved over the completion of the deposition on the directions of the Supreme Court, a beaming Jayalalitha waved to the people who thronged the venue for a glimpse of her enroute to Chennai by a special aircraft.