India: Sasikala returns to Bengaluru jail

AIADMK chief V K Sasikala on Wednesday returned to Bengaluru central jail after she surrendered before a court, a day after the Supreme Court restored her conviction in the DA case and ordered she serve the remainder of her four-year prison term immediately.

Sasikala, 60, turned up before Special Court Judge Ashwathnarayana after the apex court earlier in the day refused to entertain her plea in the Disproportionate Assets (DA) case seeking more time to surrender for undergoing the jail term.

She left Chennai for Bengaluru in the neighbouring state of Karnataka by road shortly and went straight to the court housed in the central jail at Parappana Agrahara, 28km from Hosur on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

The court hall in Bengaluru where Sasikala, a long-time aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, surrendered was shifted from the heart of the city to the central jail owing to security reasons.

Sasikala was imprisoned after completion of court formalities and medical check up, officials said

The judge also turned down her plea for two weeks more time to surrender and for home food.

Before Sasikala began serving the remaining three years, 10 months and 27 days sentence in a Karnataka prison this evening, she reinducted her close relatives T.T.V. Dinkaran and S. Venkatesh into the party, five years after their expulsion by AIADMK supremo and the then chief minister J Jayalalitha.

Sasikala appointed Dinakaran, her nephew and former Rajya Sabha member, the deputy general secretary of AIADMK, a move seen by many as an attempt to hand over the party’s control to him till her return from jail.

Dinakaran’s appointment prompted V Karuppasamy Pandian, a senior AIADMK leader to resign as the party’s organisation secretary.

Four cars in the cavalcade of Sasikala were damaged soon after it arrived near the court premises, police said, adding, it was not immediately known who did it.

Jayalalitha, Sasikala and her relatives V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Ilavarasi had spent three weeks in Parappana Agrahara jail after they were convicted by the trial court in the Rs666.5 million (Dh36.59 million) DA case in September 2014 before they were let out on bail by the Supreme Court.

Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, whose conviction by the trial court in Bengaluru had been upheld by the Supreme Court, also surrendered before the court. The court abated the proceedings against Jayalalithaa on account of her death.

Before she left for Bengaluru, an emotional Sasikala appeared to take a vow at the memorial of Jayalalithaa in Chennai, thumping her hand twice at the petals strewn concrete structure.

Sasikala was seen muttering something which was not audible amid the huge noisy crowd that had converged there.

“Only I can be jailed, not the care or concern I have for this party. Wherever I will be, my thoughts will be here,” Sasikala had told both her MLAs at Koovathur resort as well as to her supporters later at Poes Garden late last night.

She said she would be thinking about the party round the clock and that “no force can wean away” the party from her.

The Apex Court had earlier in the day refused to entertain her plea, seeking more time to surrender to undergo jail term in the DA case.

“We do not intend to pass any order on this. We are not going to change anything in the judgement,” a bench headed by Justice P.C. Ghose said. The bench had yesterday convicted her and two others in the DA case.

During the brief hearing on Wednesday, the bench said that the word “immediately” has been used in the judgement with regard to the surrender of the convict.

“I hope you [Tulsi] understand the meaning of the word ‘immediately’,” Justice Ghose said.

Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, appearing for Sasikala, said the leader wanted some time to surrender as she has to manage her affairs.

He was seeking urgent hearing of the application today itself.

The bench instead of listing the plea, made clear to the lawyer that it would not consider the plea.

Before leaving the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalitha, where Sasikala continued to stay after the former’s demise last December, she was greeted by slogan-shouting supporters who hailed their ‘Chinnamma’ (next after Jayalalithaa who was addressed as Amma, meaning mother).

At the Jayalalithaa memorial, Sasikala made her way through the crowd of supporters that included a sobbing former Minister Gokula Indira and Deputy General Secretary and her nephew T. T. V Dinakaran, and put up a brave face.

She was seen with folded hands before making an emphatic vow. She also paid floral tributes at the memorial before going around it ahead of her onward journey.

Sasikala also visited the Ramapuram residence of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran and briefly meditated before his portrait inside the house.

She also paid homage to a life size statue of the former matinee idol at the residence, which she had unveiled recently. Some women there also performed ‘aarti’ for Sasikala.

source : gulfnews