BENGALURU: The state government has appointed a Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) to dispose of properties worth crores of rupees seized from former Tamil Nadu chief minister late J Jayalalithaa in a 1996 disproportionate assets case.
Kiran S Javali has been appointed as the SPP to appear before the Special Court in the city on behalf of the State of Karnataka with reference to the disposal of properties seized in the case of Jayalalithaa and others.
The properties were seized from Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence in December 1996, and included seven kg of gold ornaments, diamonds, about 600 kg of silver ornaments, 11,344 sarees, 250 shawls, 750 pairs of footwear, 12 refrigerators, 44 air-conditioning machines and 91 wristwatches. These items have been lying in government’s custody after the CBI special court convicted Jayalalithaa and her three associates in the disproportionate assets case in 2014.
The seized properties could not be disposed of in the absence of a Special Public Prosecutor and the CBI court wrote to the registrar general of the Karnataka High Court in October 2022 in this regard.
The law department issued a notification on March 27, 2023, appointing the SPP. This was in response to the special court’s letter to the Karnataka Home secretary to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor.
The appointment was disclosed after a query was made under the Right to Information Act by an activist.