'Accused knew object of conspiracy'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 28. The conspirators in `TANSI land deal case', in which the former Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha, is the main accused, knew the object of the conspiracy, counsel for prosecution told the Special Court-III on Thursday.

In his reply to arguments by defence before the Judge, Mr.P.Anbazhagan, the counsel submitted, he primarily laid emphasis on the object of the conspiracy. Quoting a Supreme Court order, he explained it was not necessary that each conspirator should know the details of the conspiracy as long as they knew the object. In the present case, the object was the purchase of TANSI land by the then Chief Minister at a lower price. The various acts of the accused were in furtherance of the conspiracy. It may be recalled that the defence had argued that the prosecution had not proved the conspiracy aspect.

The evidence of some of the officers, such as the former Chief Secretary, Mr. T. V. Venkataraman and the then Industries Secretary, Ms. Latika Padalkar, who did not agree with the transaction, could not be ignored, the counsel said. It was an admitted case that the market value and guideline value were identical in the present transaction. Usually, there was not much of a difference between market and guideline values. The purchasers knew the property's market value.

He referred to the concession made by the prosecution before the Supreme Court with regard to 420 IPC and said the failure of one charge would not nullify the other charges. ``We have only said that the cheating ingredient cannot be made out''.

The property, which belonged to the Government Department, had been purchased at a lower price at a time when the accused was the Chief Minister and had dominion over the property. The prosecution had proved the charges against the accused, the counsel said.

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Section  : Southern States
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