Sasikala walks free after 4 years in Bengaluru jail

Former AIADMK leader V K Sasikala, who is undergoing Covid-19 treatment at Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, was released on January 27 after the completion of all formalities from the hospital. She completed her four-year prison term at the Parappana Agrahara central prison in a disproportionate assets (DA) case on Wednesday.

Two senior officers including V Seshmurthy, chief superintendent of Parappana Agrahara central prison, and their team went to Victoria Hospital with the required documents including the release letter. They took the signature of Sasikala in the presence of doctors treating her and handed over the release letter to her. Seshmurthy confirmed the release of Sasikala to DH.

After receiving the letter Sasikala thanked the prison authorities and all the staff who took care of her, a senior officer told DH.

Hundreds of followers of Sasikala and former chief minister Jayalalithaa gathered in front of Victoria Hospital and celebrated her release.

The followers, who have come from various places of Tamil Nadu to celebrate her release by distributing sweets, said that after Sasikala is discharged from the hospital, they will take her on procession starting from Hosur to all the districts of Tamil Nadu.

A police force has been deployed outside the Victoria Hospital to prevent untoward incidents and crowd gathering. The police deployed are not letting anyone inside the hospital.

Sasikala, a close confidante of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, had surrendered before authorities at the Bengaluru jail on February 15, 2017.

On January 20, she was rushed to the Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital after she complained of breathing issues. The next day, she was shifted to Victoria Hospital where she tested positive for Covid-19.

Sasikala’s health condition is said to be stable with doctors saying that she was showing good progress.

Her release from jail comes just months before Tamil Nadu faces its most-crucial Assembly elections in recent times. Though Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dhinakaran, who is the general secretary of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), maintains that his aunt would plunge into active politics immediately after her release, there is little clarity on what she would do.

Once she is back in Chennai, Sasikala is likely to stay at the residence of her niece J Krishnapriya.