Karnataka High Court to hear Jayalalithaa's bail plea today

The Karnataka High Court will hear AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalithaa's plea for immediate bail and suspension of her four-year jail sentence in connection with an 18-year-old disproportionate assets case.

Bracing up for the anticipated entry of AIADMK supporters and leaders into the city from the Hosur border, Karnataka Police have tightened security in and around the High Court and at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, where Jayalalithaa has been lodged since September 27.

The High Court vacation bench had on October 1 deferred the hearing of the bail pleas of Jayalalithaa and her close aide Sasikala and her relatives V.N.Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, who were also convicted in the case, to be taken by a regular bench after the end of Dussehra vacation.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been clamped within a one kilometer radius of the High Court and Parapanna Agrahara Prison, where Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Elavarasi are also lodged.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court has directed the the Tamil Nadu Government to ensure public safety and maintain public law and order so that no untoward incidents take place.

The court also directed that schools and colleges function as usual today.

A special bench of the high court comprising of Justices S.Vaidyanathan and R.Mahadevan said on Monday that the state government will be held responsible for any untoward incident.

The interim order was issued on petitions challenging a decision of the Federation of Association of Private Schools and Colleges in the state to close all educational institutions today in support of Jayalalithaa.