Sasikala’s parole plea being looked into: Jail officials

BENGALURU: Ousted AIADMK leader Sasikala Natarajan, who is lodged in the central prison at Parappana Agrahara here in a disproportionate assets case, has applied for parole to visit her ailing husband Natarajan. The prisons department has said that the application is being still examined.
A senior official of department said she has sought parole for a period of 15 days.

However, the prison authorities will look into the application after some verification. “She has applied for emergency parole stating that her husband is critical. The doctors attending on him confirmed this,” the official said.The official said the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison Superintendent, who is the authority to grant parole, is examining whether there are any cases against her in other courts in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu. “He is just gathering details and her parole application will be considered once he receives the reports,” the official said. Referring to reports in a section of the media which said that the parole plea has been rejected, he termed it as a false.

Sasikala, a long-time associate of former Tamil Nadu chief miniser J Jayalalithaa, was sentenced to jail for amassing wealth disproportionate to her known source of income. The Karnataka High Court had set aside the special court order and acquitted Jayalalithaa and others in 2015. The Karnataka government then appealed against the order in the Supreme Court. The apex court upheld the trial court order and quashed the High Court order.  Jayalalithaa was declared guilty after her death and Sasikala, along with others, was sent to Parappana Agrahara prison.