From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Apr 28: With the Supreme Court’s verdict on Monday striking down the appointment of G Bhavani Singh as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the disproportionate assets (DA) case against from former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, the Karnataka government has issued orders appointing former State Advocate General B V Acharya as the Special Public Prosecutor.

The Karnataka government on Tuesday issued notification on the appointment of Acharya as the SPP after the Supreme Court on Monday declared that Tamil Nadu government had no right to appoint SPP in the case since the transfer of the case to Karnataka.

It may be recalled that Acharya had been appointed by the then Karnataka government in February 2005 as the SPP following the transfer of the case to Karnataka High Court in November 2002 after DMK cried foul about the fairness of trial in Tamil Nadu.

However, Acharya had resigned in 2012 citing pressure from the interested persons and other quarters.

Subsequently, Bhavani Singh was appointed as SPP in February 2013 after Acharya’s resignation citing mental agony over Lokayukta order to probe him.

Ms Jayalalithaa was sentenced to four years’ simple imprisonment and was ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 100 crore for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Her co-accused — Sasikala Natarajan, V Sudhakaran and J Elavarasi — were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10 crore each by Special Judge John Michael Cunha.

Incidentally, both the Special Judge John Michel Cunha and B V Acharya are originally from the coastal city of Mangaluru.

The Apex Court had also declared as unauthorised the Tamil Nadu’s action of appointing G Bhavani Singh as SPP and had asked State of Karnataka to file written statement in the appeals filed by Ms Jayalalithaa before the High Court questioning her conviction in the case.

The Supreme Court had also asked the High Court to ignore the statement filed by Bhavani Singh.

The Karnataka government appointed senior lawyer Bhavani Singh in February 2013 as the Special Public Prosecutor replacing B V Acharya, who cited suffering at the hands of ‘interested parties’.

The appointment of the SPP was challenged by DMK leader K Anbazhagan on the grounds that the accused was in collusion with the Special Public Prosecutor.

The Karnataka High Court had rejected the plea after which the DMK general secretary challenged the Supreme Court over the appointment.

The AIADMK supremo, however, had argued that Anbazhagan’s plea was not ‘genuine’.

In line with a direction of the Supreme Court, DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan filed his written submission with the Karnataka High Court that prayed for confirming the sentence and fine imposed on Ms Jayalalithaa and three others in the case.