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Tansi land deal: Charges to be framed tomorrow

Special Judge P Anbazhagan today fixed tomorrow for framing of charges against former Tamil Nadu chief minister and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham chief J Jayalalitha and five others in the Tansi land deal case.

The judge directed all the accused to be present in the court at 1030 hours without fail.

On June 3, the judge could not frame charges against the accused since a petition filed by former rural industries minister Mohammed Asif, a co-accused, challenging the jurisdiction of the special judge referring him for medical examination, was pending before the Madras high court.

When the case came up for hearing today, the judge said the high court had not granted any stay and the team of doctors from the government general hospital and the railway hospital had opined that Asif was in a fit condition to be able to answer questions.

The prosecution case is that the state-owned Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation's land at Guindy was purchased by Jaya Publications, in which Jayalalitha and her close aide Sasikala Natarajan were partners. They had purchased the land at a rate lower than the then prevailing market price and evaded stamp duty and registration charges.

The other three accused in the case are former Tansi chairman and managing director, T R Sreenivasan, former deputy collector (stamps), S Nagarajan and the then chief minister's principal secretary, M Karpoorasundarapandian.

UNI

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