DHAKA: India’s Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has been sentenced to four years in jail after she was found guilty of corruption by a Bangalore court, where she was present for the verdict.

Jayalalithaa, who is 66, will most likely have to resign as chief minister, the Supreme Court ruled last year that a law-maker found guilty of a crime carrying a jail sentence of two years or more stands immediately disqualified from office, reports NDTV.

The judge ‘held Jayalalithaa guilty of amassing wealth disproportionate to known sources of her income’, prosecutor G Bhavani Singh told reporters outside the court where the popular chief minister of southern Tamil Nadu state was convicted, says The Straits Times.

Jayalalithaa was charged with amassing illegal wealth in 1997, when police seized assets including 28 kilos of gold, 750 pairs of shoes and more than 10,000 saris in a raid on her home.

Prosecutors said her assets, which reportedly included two 1,000-acre estates in the lush tropical state she ran, were vastly disproportionate to her earnings during her first term as chief minister, which ran from 1991 to 1996.

BDST: 1746 HRS, SEP 27, 2014