Jayalalithaa, the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, has been fighting a case wherein she was accused of amassing wealth as high as Rs 66 crore disproportionate to her known sources of income between 1991 and 1996. This was the period when she served as Chief Minister for the first term.

The case dragged on for 18 years. On 27 September 2014, a Special Court convicted all four accused – Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, Sasikala’s niece Ilavarasi and her nephew V.N. Sudhakaran and sentenced them to four years simple imprisonment. In May 2015, the Karnataka High Court overturned the trial court’s verdict and acquitted Jayalalithaa and others of all charges. This paved the way for Jayalalithaa’s return to power as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the 23rd of May, 2015.

Finally, on 14 February 2017, the Supreme Court convicted all four in the case, essentially putting an end to Sasikala’s political ambitions. Supreme Court has asked Sasikala and others to surrender immediately.