BANGALORE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who appeared before the Special Court at Parappana Agrahara on Tuesday in connection with the disproportionate assets case (dpa), pleaded ignorance on about 90 per cent of the questions related to the financial transactions.Some 580 questions were put to the AIADMK supremo, most of which relating to firms in which she was a dormant partner, and to the wedding expenses of her foster son Sudhakaran. Of the total 1,339 questions, the AIADMK supremo has so far answered 1,147 questions.Judge B M Mallikarjuanaiah adjourned the hearing till Wednesday, and it is expected that the proceedings related to her questioning will be over by Wednesday afternoon.Speaking to reporters after the proceedings, Advocate General of Karnataka B V Acharya, who is Special Public Prosecutor in the case, said the questioning began at 11 am and ended at 5.20 pm.“Some of the questions were related to the wedding expenses of her adopted son Sudhakaran. According to the prosecution, nearly ` 6 crore was spent for the wedding. Jayalalithaa explained the court that she had not spent any money, and the entire expenses were incurred by the bride’s family.” The AG added that most of the questions asked on Tuesday were related to acquisition of property by the companies and firms in which she was a dormant partner. “She explained the court that she wasignorant of the day-to-day transactions of the firms, as she was just a dormant partner and hence she had no knowledge of the acquisitions of those firms.” “However, when the judge asked her about her bank transactions, she admitted that all were true,” he added.Meanwhile, Jayalalithaa’s counsel B Kumar said the questioning was incomplete and she would again appear before the court on Wednesday. “The object of questioning is to give her an opportunity to explain her stand vis-a-vis the statements made by the prosecution witnesses. We hope the questioning will get over on Wednesday.” The other accused in the case, Sasikala and Sudhakaran, were also present before the court, while Ilavarasi did not appear.Jayalalithaa arrived in the city in the morning in a chartered flight.She was accompanied by about 20 of her Cabinet colleagues, including O Panneerselvam, K A Sengottaiyan, Natham R Viswanathan, K P Munusamy and S Gokula Indira. Chennai Corporation Mayor Saidai Duraisamy was also seen among them. After the hearing, Jayalalithaa left for Chennai.She had replied to about 571 questions on October 20 and 21. She was accused of amassing around Rs 66 crore, over and above her known sources of income during her stint as CM from 1991-96.
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