HC allows Sasikala to be quizzed via video-conference

Justice Anand Venkatesh, disposing of the petition from Sasikala lodged in Bengaluru jail, directed her to appear before the court through video conference in connection with a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.

The case registered in 1996 relates to the alleged payments made by Sasikala, a close aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, and co-accused Bhaskaran in violation of FERA for the purchase of a transponder facility and uplinking charges for the now-defunct JJ TV.

When the matter came up, senior counsel Raja Rathnam, on behalf of Sasikala, submitted that she was already allowed to appear through video conference. But the subsequent presiding officer found some defects in the procedure and directed the appearance of the petitioner in person in the present case, Rathnam said.

Referring to the earlier order of the High Court in similar matters, the counsel said it had stated that there was no requirement to produce the petitioner before the court and questioning can be done through video conference.

Counsel for the Enforcement Directorate Hema submitted that the only difficulty was to get signature from the petitioner in the papers after questioning was completed.

To this, Justice Venkatesh said the signatures can be obtained after sending the papers to the jail and it can be witnessed by the officer who would be accompanying the petitioner in the prison at the time of the video conference.

The ED had booked Sasikala in 1996 on the charge of violation of foreign exchange regulations and the case had since been dragging. A total of four connected cases are pending trial. In January, the HC had allowed Sasikala to appear through video-conference for framing of charges, but stipulated that the trial should be completed in four months.