DMK to appeal against Jayalalithaa's acquittal: Karunanidhi

Chennai, May 25 , 2015: DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Monday said his party would appeal against the Karnataka High Court's verdict acquitting Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets case. Speaking at the party's district secretaries' meeting here, Karunanidhi said the party would appeal since the Supreme Court twice held that the DMK has the right to be impleaded in the case. He said that both special public prosecutor B.V. Acharya and Karnataka's advocate general Ravivarma Kumar have clearly recommended to the government to appeal to the apex court. The former chief minister said Acharya even said that if the Karnataka government did not appeal against the high court judgment, it would set a wrong precedent. The DMK leader said original complainant, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has said he would prefer an appeal. DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan is one of the petitioners in the Rs.66-crore disproportionate assets case against Jayalalithaa. Last year, a trial court sentenced Jayalalithaa to four years in jail and to pay a fine of Rs.100 crore, but the Karnataka High Court accepted Jayalalithaa's appeal and acquitted her of all charges.