Bangalore, Apr21 - The Special Court today rejected applications filed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her aide Sasikala Natarajan in the wealth case seeking perusal of unmarked documents pertaining to the case. Judge B M Mallikarjunaiah rejected the applications on the ground that the plea was not maintainable.

Expressing displeasure over the failure of co-accused in the case, Sasikala, Ilavarasi and V Sudhakaran, to appear today, the judge observed that the accused had taken the case lightly and instructed them to be present on April 23 for further recording of their statements.

"This is not the way to cooperate with the law," he said. He granted them exemption from personal appearance for today. Earlier, counsel for Sasikala, C Manishankhar had submitted that the accused had every right to peruse unmarked documents.

Special Public Prosecutor B V Acharya, on the other hand, argued that the applications were "not bonafide but filed with an oblique purpose of dragging on the proceedings".

Terming the applications as "frivolous and vexatious", he argued that these were not maintainable under law or on the facts of the present case. The filing of the applications "is an abuse of the process of law", he contended.

The court is currently recording the statements of Sasikala.

The case, relating to alleged accumulation of wealth by Jayalalithaa when she was Chief Minister from 1991-95, had been transferred to Bangalore by the Supreme Court. PTI