The allegation was made in a counter-affidavit by the CB-CID in response to a petition, filed in the Madras High Court, by former AIADMK minister Mohammed Asif.

Asif prayed for a direction to transfer trial of the case from the court of special judge P Anbazhagan on the ground that the judge was allegedly biased and acted against the interests of the accused.

The case pertains to the purchase of land belonging to the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) by `Jaya Publications', a firm in which Jayalalitha and her close associate Sasikala Natarajan were partners.On February 24, Justice S S Subramani, admitting the transfer petition, directed Anbazhagan to defer further proceedings in the case till March 1. Contending that the case had already beenunnecessarily delayed for a long time with 105 petitions having been filed so far by the accused and charges yet to be framed in the case, the CB-CID described the allegations against the judge as ``uncalled for, uncharitable and baseless''. The petition was not maintainable as Section 407 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code barred transfer of a case from one criminal court to another within the same Sessions division, the CB-CID contended.

Besides, Rule 207 of the Criminal Rules of Practice made it mandatory that no application for transfer should be accepted unless the public prosecutor was given 24 hours notice before the petition was taken up, which was not done.