Bengaluru: V K Sasikala, close aide of late Tamilnadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, who is serving jail term for corruption in the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, was reportedly being given special treatment.
Earlier in 2017, DIG (Prisons) D Roopa had claimed that Sasikala was being given special treatment and this has been confirmed in a 295-page report by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar.
RTI activist Narasimha Murthy said that he had accessed the 295 pages report through an RTI query and revealed that the report confirmed that Sasikala was given special treatment in the jail. The reply was furnished by M R Shobha, Public Relations Officer of the Home Department.
In her report, submitted DGP (Prisons) H N Sathyanarayana Rao on 12 July, Roopa had claimed there was a talk that Rs 2 crore had exchanged hands to give preferential treatment for Sasikala and there were allegations against him also.
The then Siddaramaiah government had ordered an inquiry by Vinay Kumar to probe the allegations made by Roopa. Kumar’s report said Sasikala was allowed to wear her personal clothes and cook and that she had a pressure cooker and spices were found in her cell. It also said there was separate visitors’ room for her and the corridor in the jail was barricaded for her. Sasikala was provided five cells, despite no threat to her life as per intelligence reports, the report said.
The report also claimed that, as per the CCTV footage, Sasikala met with her advocate A Ashokan for over four hours on 11 June 2017. Although the prison register mentioned that she met with him for only 45 minutes, the CCTV evidence showed she met him for many hours.
Also the Daily Report showed that Elavarasi on that same day had seven visitors, but the total time spent by her was recorded as 45 minutes from 2 pm.
The report claimed that this is a case of falsification of records can only be explained as deliberate misreporting on the part of the concerned prison officials to escape falling within the prohibition of Rule 601 of the Karnataka Prison Manual 1978. The report also found two other similar manipulation of visitor timings.
When asked about the bribery charges made by her, Roopa said a probe by the anti-corruption bureau had been ordered a long time ago and it should be taken to the logical end by punishing the culprits.
Roopa, presently IGP, Home Guards and Civil Defence, speaking to reporter said that whatever she had said in her report was the same thing and that the present one was an independent inquiry committee. She said that her stand was vindicated and she was happy.