Sasikala had scouted the estate, like the many other properties the duo had picked up during their buying spree during Jayalalitha’s first term from 1991 to 1996. Peter Grace Jones, the English owner who had inherited the estate, had run up a debt of Rs 3.5 crore. When Sasikala evinced interest and Jayalalitha too approved the buy after a visit, their confidant, liquor-baron-turned-medical-college-owner Ramaswamy Udayar, stepped in to finalise the deal. His daughter-in-law Radha Venkatachalam purchased the estate from Jones for Rs 7.5 crore and later transferred it to a partnership company belonging to Jayalalitha, Sasikala and Ilavarasi. The details are confirmed by Radha Venkatachalam in her deposition before the special court that tried the wealth case against Jayalalitha and others. Jones, who flew in from London to depose, backed Radha’s story, but complained to the court he was shortchanged by Rs 2.5 crore and was actually paid only Rs 5 crore.