AIADMK on today (Saturday) said that, it has been disbursed over Rs 7 crore to families of 244 persons who died allegedly by committing suicide following Jayalalithaa’s conviction in a graft case by a lower court last year (2014).

The AIADMK supremo was subsequently acquitted by the Karnataka High Court on May 11th 2015. “So far, Rs 7.32 crore has been given away to families of 244 persons who committed suicide and Two lakh Rupees have given to the four persons towards medical treatment,” a AIADMK release said.

AIADMK Party leader, J Jayalalithaa had announced a relief of Rs 3 lakh each to the families of the victims, while appealing to supporters not to resort to extreme steps in the wake of her sentence. In 2014 the two people, including a 12th standard student, attempted self-immolation self and have hospitalised with severe burns. Another supporter chopped of his little finger in Tirupur, reports said.

According to the AIADMK leaders, such extreme behaviour of people shows the populatity of J.Jayalalithaa among them.  Social welfare board chairperson and AIADMK women’s wing deputy secretary C R Saraswathi said the reactions of grief “shows the relationship people share” with Jayalalithaa. More than 16,600 people killed themselves in Tamil Nadu last year (2014) and the most cases of suicide among all states with the exception of Maharashtra.

One AIADMK party supporter committed suicide by self-immolation, one person died by jumping in front of a bus and one person ended his life after consuming poison after the court pronounced its verdict. 10 others died apparently due to shock after Jayalalithaa’s conviction, a police officer said.

Jayalalithaa has been sentenced in the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case by a Bengaluru court in September 2014.