SC rejects Jaya's plea for advance hearing in assets case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India rejected former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's plea to advance the hearing of her appeal against her conviction and sentence in a disproportionate assets case. Jayalalithaa, who is currently out on bail, was sentenced to four years in jail by a trial court in Bangalore for amassing assets vastly exceeding her income. The top court, while granting her bail in October, had asked the AIADMK chief's lawyers to ensure all paperwork for her appeal was completed by December 18, or her bail could be cancelled. It said it would then ask the Karnataka High Court to decide her appeal within three months to ensure a faster trial than the current case, which dragged on for nearly two decades.