A Bengaluru court has ruled that valuable jewelry seized from former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during a corruption case should be returned to the state government. The court also ordered Tamil Nadu to pay ₹5 crore to Karnataka for trial expenses.
The jewelry, worth crores, was confiscated during a disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa. The trial was conducted in Karnataka as per the Supreme Court’s directive, and the evidence was held in the Karnataka treasury.
The court rejected a plea to auction the jewelry and instead directed that it be transferred directly to Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu government is now responsible for deciding what to do with the jewelry, which was considered material evidence in the case.
The court’s decision comes after it earlier ruled that Jayalalithaa’s family was not entitled to the properties confiscated by the state. This means that the jewelry will not go to Jayalalithaa’s niece and nephew, who had filed a petition claiming it.
The Tamil Nadu government has welcomed the court’s decision and said that it will take steps to collect the jewelry soon. The Karnataka government has not yet commented on the decision.
The return of the jewelry is a significant development in the long-running legal case against Jayalalithaa. It remains to be seen what the Tamil Nadu government will do with the jewelry, but it is likely to be sold or auctioned off.
