File photo of AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa
The trial of J Jayalithaa for alleged corruption will resume in a court in Bangalore, the Supreme Court said, tossing up a predicament for the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
In May, the top court had suspended the trial till this month, based on a petition by the chief minister, who alleged that there was confusion about the ownership of properties listed as hers.
The case against Jayalalithaa, 66, alleges that during an earlier term as head of the state government, she accrued assets worth Rs 66 crore, vastly disproportionate to her declared sources of income.
The case against her was filed by the DMK, her arch rival in Tamil Nadu.
In 2003, the case was moved from Chennai to Bangalore after DMK alleged the trial wouldn't be fair in Tamil Nadu which was at the time governed by Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister.
The Supreme Court's verdict today ordering the resumption of the trial came after investigators from the Tamil Nadu Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing persuaded judges that the chief minister is trying to unfairly delay the trial.
In 2011, the chief minister appeared twice in the Bangalore court handling her case to answer hundreds of questions put to her.
Recently, she has been unsuccessful in staving off another case which seeks to punish her for failing income tax returns in the early 90s. The Supreme Court has refused to order that the case be dropped. It is being heard by a court in Chennai.
The cases do not appear to have dented the leader's popularity in her home state. In May in the national election, her party, the AIADMK, swept Tamil Nadu winning as many as 37 of the 39 parliamentary seats.