AIADMK leader Sasikala, who has been convicted in the DA case by the SC and jailed in high security prison in Parappana Agrahara at the outskirts of Bengaluru, has to serve 13 more months jail term apart from four years if she fails to pay a fine of Rs 10 crore imposed by the Supreme Court. In a statement issued by the Prisons Superintendent Krishna Kumar on Tuesday in Bengaluru said VK Sasikala who is currently serving her jail sentence would have to serve another 13 months if she fails to pay a Rs10 crore penalty.
“Sasikala Natarajan will have to pay Rs 10 crore and if she fails to pay the punitive amount imposed by the Supreme Court, she will have to serve 13 more months in the jail,” Prisons Superintendent Krishna Kumar said in a statement.
The AIADMK General Secretary is currently serving her sentence at the high security Parapanna Agrahara central prison in Bengaluru.
The apex court had on February 14 restored Sasikala’s conviction in the disproportionate assets case, awarding four years jail term to her and her relatives, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10 crore each.
Sasikala will be in jail for three years and about 11 months, out of the four years sentence awarded by the trial court. She had earlier spent 21 days in Parappana Agrahara jail after conviction by the trial court in September 2014.
According to the official statement all the three of them Sasikala, Illavarasi and Sudhakaran were getting same treatment as per the jail manual and they have not been given any special treatment. “The convicts--Sasikala, Illavarasi and Sudhakaran--are getting the same treatment in the jail as others are getting and they have not been given any special treatment,” Kumar said.
For security reasons, Sasikala and Illavarasi have been lodged in the women’s block and they are living in a small cell, Kumar said. Sudhakaran is lodged in the men’s block, he added.
Food prepared in jail was being served to them and prison doctors were regularly conducting medical checkups and administering medicines to them, adds the statement.
While former Tamil Nadu chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s death abated the four-year jail sentence awarded to her the Supreme Court has already clarified that the Rs100 crore penalty slapped on her must be recovered by confiscating her properties matching the value.
As per the official clarification each of them has been given prison uniforms, meal plates and access to the common TV room for entertainment.
It is also learnt that Sasikala has written a letter to the party cadres to celebrate late Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa’s birthday on February 24 on a grand scale conducting public welfare events across the state.
In the letter she also condemned former chief minister O Panneerselvam for ‘betraying the legacy of Jayalalithaa and MGR.’
“We have defeated the treacherous acts and betrayal of those who tried to swindle Jayalalithaa’s hard work and MGR’s legacy. We have safeguarded Amma’s governance while celebrating MGR’s centenary year,” she stated and requested the cadres to involve themselves into conducting a lot of public welfare events.
In another development Sasikala’s lawyers are initiating legal procedures to shift her to a jail in Tamil Nadu citing health reasons. “It is up to the consent of the two states. We will move the plea to Karnataka government which will in turn forward our request to the Tamil Nadu government,” said N D S Kulasekharan, Sasikala’s counsel.
B V Acharya, the special public prosecutor in the DA case, said according to the jail manual, shifting a prisoner could be decided among the top officials of the two prisons. But he says is difficult to shit her without the SC’s permission in this case. eom/blr