The Supreme Court on Tuesday convicted AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala Natarajan in the disproportionate assets case, in which late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa was also an accused.

Sasikala will have to surrender herself to jail for undergoing remaining part of four year jail term.

The two-judge bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy quashed the Karnataka HC verdict acquitting Sasikala, however, abated the appeal proceedings against J Jayalalithaa owing to her death on December 5 last.

The court also restored in toto the conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court in Bengaluru to all the accused.

After SC's verdict, Sasikala will be unable to stand for elections for six years and hold public office.

The verdict comes in the backdrop of the ongoing power struggle within the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu between Sasikala and caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam.

Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Elavarasi were accused of amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs. 66.65 crore during the late chief minister's first term from 1991 to 1996.

They were also held guilty by the trial court and sentenced to four years with a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.

The Karnataka High Court had on May 11, 2015, ruled that the AIADMK supremo's conviction by a special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as chief minister.

The Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 order, claimed that the HC had erred in computing the disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader. The Karnataka government also asked whether the high court had "erred in law" by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of 10%.

The state government had also claimed that the high court had erred in overruling preliminary objections raised by it and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party. The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.

On Monday, Sasikala had assured that she would ensure unity in the party and continue its rule for the rest of its tenure while making a scathing attack on Panneerselvam saying that he was showing attributes of a traitor against the party.

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