Sasikala, the 66-year-old former AIADMK general-secretary and Jayalalithaa aide, is serving a four-year prison term in a disproportionate assets case.
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s close aide and ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was Wednesday taken to Bowring hospital from the Parappana Agrahara jail in Bengaluru, after she complained of fever.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Nandeesha HL, the Parappana Agrahara police station inspector, said, “Sasikala was suffering from fever and has been taken to Bowring hospital for treatment. As per my information, she will be back to prison today itself.”
The 66-year-old former AIADMK general-secretary is serving a four-year prison term in a disproportionate assets case. Earlier in September 2020, responding to an RTI query by an advocate and activist T Narasimha Murthy, the office of the Chief Superintendent of Prison said Sasikala would be able to walk out of the prison if she agrees to pay a fine of Rs 10 crore handed to her in the disproportionate case.
In November that year, the fine amount was remitted to the 34th City Civil Court by way of demand drafts through her family. As per her counsel Raja Senthoor Pandian, Sasikala will walk out of the prison during the morning hours of January 27, 2021.
The case of Sasikala pertains to the amassment of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during J Jayalalithaa’s tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-1996. In September 2013, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa to simple imprisonment of four years. She was slapped with a Rs 100-crore fine and forced to step down as the Chief Minister. The three co-accused – VK Sasikala, VN Sudhakaran, and J Ilavarasi – were also convicted. They were awarded a fine amount of Rs 10 crore each.
Jayalalithaa challenged the conviction in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted her of all charges. However, in 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the special court verdict convicting all four of them. Charges against Jayalalithaa were abated in view of her death on December 5, 2016.
(With inputs from Darshan Devaiah)
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