The Supreme Court convicted AIADMK chief VK Sasikala in a disproportionate assets case on Tuesday morning. She has been ordered to surrender immediately.
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The court has given a four-year sentence and she is to be jailed in Bengaluru. The apex court set aside the Karnataka High court order.
"In the past whenever Amma was in crisis, I also suffered this time also I will take it upon me. 'Dharma' will win," AIADMK quoted Sasikala as saying.
The AIADMK chief can't contest elections for the next six years now. She has to serve rest of her jail sentence of three years and six months as she has already served almost six months earlier.
The Governor of Tamil Nadu, CV Rao, had been delaying inviting Sasikala Natarajan to prove her strength for forming the government in the state. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who had resigned from the post and was working as the interim CM, had contested her claim and positioned himself as her rival.
"I was expecting the conviction. I don't think she can escape the 4 years sentenc," said BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
"Justice has been done. Judgement shows how strong and independent is our judiciary," said former Advocate General BV Acharya on VK Sasikala conviction.
The AIADMK drama was playing out in public for a week now.
Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had been accused of accumulating property worth Rs 66 crore when she first became the chief minister. Sasikala was accused of abetment and criminal conspiracy.
The Karnataka High Court had acquitted both the women in 2015, but the Karnataka government had filed a case in the Supreme Court.
