Tight security in Bengaluru for Jayalalithaa verdict

Bengaluru: Security has been stepped up in Bengaluru ahead of Monday's crucial verdict by a special bench of the Karnataka High Court on former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa's appeal against her conviction in a disproportionate assets case.

"We have deployed additional forces in the city and imposed ban order within 1km radius of the Karnataka High Court from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday to maintain law and order," Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told IANS.

The special high court bench headed by Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy will pronounce the judgment at 11 a.m. as directed by the Supreme Court, which extended Jayalalithaa's bail up to May 12.

"Ten platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, 500 policemen and 25 senior police officers will be present in and around the high court to ensure peace and prevent any untoward incident. Entry into the high court will also be restricted to avoid crowding," Kumar said.

A trial court, headed by special judge John Michael D'Cunha, had on September 27, 2014 convicted and sentenced Jayalalithaa and her three accomplices to a four-year jail term in the Rs.66.65-crore illegal assets case that dragged on for 18 years.

The three co-convicts are Sasikala Natarajan, her nephew V.N. Sudhakaran and her aunt J. Ellavarsi. Sudhakaran is also the disowned foster son of Jayalalithaa.

The apex court on October 17, 2014 had granted interim bail till December 18 to the 67-year-old Jayalalithaa and her three co-convicts. Their bail was subsequently extended till May 12.

The general secretary of Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK had also spent three weeks in the central jail on the city's outskirts after the high court rejected her bail petition.