File photo of J Jayalalithaa.
To the waiting media outside a Bangalore court, the dramatic verdict in which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted of corruption took several hours to filter out of the courtroom walls.
But according to an eyewitness present inside, it was over in minutes - seven minutes to be precise.
At 11am on September 27, the four accused - Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and Sasikala's two relatives - entered the court.
The only others present were Justice John D'Cunha, 13 defence lawyers, 2 prosecution lawyers and three lawyers for DMK leader K Anbazhagan who had intervened in 2001 to get the case shifted from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka.
Jayalalithaa sat in a box for the accused on the right of the entrance, the other three accused were seated on the left.
By 11:07 am, Judge D'Cunha announced his verdict. He asked for arguments on sentencing to begin at 1pm.
Jayalalithaa looked stunned. Sasikala and one of the other accused, Ilavarasi, her sister-in-law, were said to be in tears. They were led to a nearby waiting room.
At 1pm, when arguments began for sentencing, the Judge asked Jayalalithaa if she wanted to speak. She told the court that it was a politically motivated case foisted on her by the DMK. She said she was 48 when the case began and that now she was 66, time in which her health has deteriorated; she asked the Judge for clemency.
But the Judge sentenced all of them to four years in prison. Jayalalithaa complained of dizziness, so she was taken to the hospital in Central Prison for treatment.
She was then shifted to her cell where she spent what could be the first of many nights, unless the higher courts offer her respite.