The Special Court, on Saturday, secured bonds for Rs. One core each and two solvent sureties for the like sum as surety from eight private individuals before issuing orders to the Bangalore Central Prison to release AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa and three of her aides in the disproportionate assets case.
AIADMK’s Karnataka State unit secretary V. Pugazhendi and his wife Gunajothi were among the eight individuals, who provided surety and bonds of Rs. One crore each.
While Ms. Gunajothi and Bharath, a resident of Bangalore, provided surety to Ms. Jayalalithaa, Mr. Pugazhendi provided surety to J. Ilavarasi, one of the convicts, and four other individuals, all residents of Bangalore, gave surety for two other convicts V.K. Sasikala and V.N. Sudhakaran.
While ordering their release on bail on Friday, the Supreme Court had said that the convicts could be released on executing a bond with two solvent sureties for each of the convicts to the satisfaction of the judge of the Special Court, which had convicted and sentenced them to four-year imprisonment.
While scrutinising the sale deed and other documents related to the immovable properties like lands and residential flats held by the eight persons, Special Court judge John Michael D'Cunha asked each one of them whether they personally knew the convict to whom they were offering surety.
“You will be held responsible as per law if the convict fails to appear before the Court whenever necessary. Hope that you know the position of law,” the judge told them while verifying their identity. All the eight persons said that they knew the convicts and would abide by the law.
Meanwhile, the Court accepted the plea of Ms. Jayalalithaa’s counsel for delivering the release order to the Bangalore Central Prison through a special messenger.
The judge of the Special Court completed the process of passing release orders after verifying the surety documents by within 30 minutes after court commenced proceedings at 11 a.m.
After completion of other legal formalities, including execution bonds, the certified copy of the release order was dispatched to the prison at around 1.50 p.m. from through a court staff, who was taken to the prison in a police jeep, which was followed by advocates and supporters of AIADMK in their vehicles.
