Jaya not at fault in wealth case: Sasikala

BANGALORE: Sasikala Natarajan, the estranged aide of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, deposed before a local court here on Saturday and submitted that the AIADMK chief was only a dormant partner in Jaya Publications Ltd and Sasi Enterprises. Sasikala, who appeared before the 36th City Civil and Sessions Court and the Special Court hearing the disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa, replied to 40 questions. She had to depend on an interpreter appointed by the court as she was unable to understand English.Sasikala has to answer around 1,000 questions and the court will continue recording her statements on February 23.When Judge B M Mallikarjunaiah asked her about the management of the firms, Sasikala said she looked after the administration of Jaya Publications and Jayalalithaa was not involved in its affairs and informed that she operated bank accounts of the firm alone. “Even in case of Sasi Enterprises, it’s the same,” she said, corroborating Jayalalithaa’s statement in the court last November.Meanwhile, before the questioning started, Sasikala’s advocate requested the court to defer recording of statements as a special leave petition seeking direction to the Special Court for translating all questions into Tamil was pending before the Supreme Court. But the judge rejected the plea.Also, Sasikala’s counsel requested the judge to conduct the hearing only three days a week as they had to appear for other cases in Tamil Nadu.But Special Public Prosecutor B V Acharya objected to this and said the questioning has to be done on a day-today basis in keeping with the Supreme Court direction.Later, the judge rejected the plea.