The jewellery, which according to the prosecution is worth over Rs 3.5 crore, forms part of the Rs 66.65 crore wealth case in which Jayalalitha and Sasikala Natarajan are the key accused. Although, the jewellery was appraised earlier, Jayalalitha and Sasikala moved the court on May 19, seeking a re-appraisal. They contended that the earlier valuation was done by a non-approved appraiser of jewellery.

Special judge I S Sambandam then sought a list of approved valuers from the Income-Tax Chief Commissioner, Chennai. The judge then appointed Vummidi Nandagopal to value the jewellery. Nandagopal backed out. The court's efforts to find an alternative appraiser proved futile, as none of the approved valuers wanted to undertake the task.

When the court approached Income-Tax authorities to solve the issue, it wasinformed that the Department cannot force the valuers to do the job.

One of the factors for this reluctance is that the job is `` not remunerative'' considering the work that would go into valuing the several sovereigns of jewellery. Prosecution sources recalled that during the earlier appraisal, valuer's eyes were ``bulging''. The valuers would also like to avoid controversy, taking into account ``AIADMK's history of physical attacks,'' legal circles felt.