Chennai: The Supreme Court has stayed the sentence of former Tamilnadu Youth Welfare and Sports minister Balakrishna Reddy.
Balakrishna was to serve a three-year term in prison for a rioting case in 1998 in Bagalur town as the Hosur MLA. He was part of the group that indulged in protests, demanding the closure of a liquor shop. A police jeep and several other vehicles were gutted as they set them on fire.
The case that was being heard by a regular court, was transferred to the special court set up to hear cases against legislators, which helped in the delivering of an early judgement.
Balakrishna was handed down a judgement that meant he would be imprisoned for three years, making him lose his right to be an MLA. Soon after the verdict, he resigned from the Cabinet and lost his MLA seat. The election to this seat is being held along with 17 other Assembly constituencies 18 April.
The AIADMK has now allotted the seat to his wife Jothi.