In June 2011, when she came back to power, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa was seen wearing a single diamond earring. When the scribes asked her about her new style and the diamond stud, she was all smiles. “I had not worn jewellery after 1997. When my party won the election with a huge margin, many gathered at my house and asked me to change my mind and wear jewellery. They even threatened to immolate themselves if I did not start wearing jewellery. I did not want any tragic thing to happen during celebrations and that is why I started wearing the earrings,” Jayalalithaa explained.
And now more than a decade later, and after her death, Jayalalithaa’s jewellery is making headlines again. Her jewellery—gold and silver—worth several crores will be handed over to the Tamil Nadu government on March 6 and 7. The special court in Bengaluru had ordered the transfer of jewellery to pave way for the unlocking of assets to mobilise the Rs 100 crore fine imposed on her in the disproportionate assets (DA) case against her. The move to hand over the jewellery and liquidate the same to pay the fine amount comes nearly after a decade since she was convicted and sentenced to four years of imprisonment in a corruption case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The order has come from the 36th City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru nearly seven years after Jayalalithaa’s death. Special Judge H.A. Mohan, on Monday, passed an order directing the Tamil Nadu state home secretary, inspector general of police of the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) to come to the court to receive the jewellery.
“The officers must bring along a photographer and videographer and six big trunks with necessary security for collecting the jewellery,” the judge said in his order. While 20 kilos of her gold jewellery will be auctioned, the remaining seven kilos will be exempted as she inherited it from her mother.
Apart from this, Canfin Homes Ltd, a leading housing finance company, where Jayalalithaa had an account, handed over Rs.60 lakh to the special court in Bengaluru on Monday, towards realisation of the fine. After the jewellery is auctioned, the court will place her immovable assets, including her properties in Kodanad estate, Siruthavur, and a portion of Poes garden for auction to realise the fine amount.
It all began in 1997 when Jayalalithaa was arrested by the DVAC for amassing wealth to the tune of Rs 66 crore disproportionate to her sources of income. The then DMK regime had filed the DA case based on Subramanian Swamy’s complaint (Swamy is part of the BJP now) and her Veda Nilayam house in Poes Garden was searched.
Visuals of 750 pairs of footwear, 2,140 saris, 500 pieces of crystalware, 27 kilos of gold jewellery and 80 kilos of silver ornaments seized from her residence became the talk of the town then. The Week was the first to bring out the details of the properties owned by Jayalalithaa and the legal fight for it, after her death.
Jayalalithaa was arrested and her aide Sasikala too was lodged in the prison. In 1997, soon after the arrest and her subsequent release, Jayalalithaa vowed not to wear jewellery. She changed her mind in June 2011, when her party cadres asked her to wear earrings. The case moved from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka in the early 2000s and the gold jewellery and other articles seized from her house were sent to the city civil court at Bengaluru. The jewellery was brought back to a special court in Chennai from Karnataka for a brief period for inventory and prosecution exhibits. This was when the jewellery— the diamond-studded gold belt worn by her estranged foster son V. Sudhakaran, and the diamond belt with 2,389 diamonds, 18 emeralds and 19 ruby stones worn by Sasikala—were looked at with awe by the people. Thanks to Sudhakaran’s lavish wedding in 1995 - known to be the mother of all weddings then.
The jewellery was brought to Chennai court for inventory and marking prosecution exhibits and then sent back to Karnataka.
Now again Jayalalithaa’s jewellery has hit the headlines. However, other contenders to her assets, her nephews Deepak and Deepa Jayakumar who won the claim for her house, have already moved the court saying they are entitled to her other movable and immovable properties.
