Convicted in the disproportionate assets case in 2017, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s close aide VK Sasikala will be released from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru on January 27, Wednesday.
Sasikala will be released between 10 and 11 am. However, she was tested positive for Covid-19 on January 20 and will continue to be treated for the infection.
Sasikala’s family members and the doctors attending on her will take a call on if she will also be discharged from the Bengaluru hospital.
According to prison authorities, Sasikala will be formally released tomorrow. ".. all the formalities pertaining to her release will be completed tomorrow at the hospital itself," a prison official told PTI.
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It is not clear when she would be discharged from the hospital.
Independent legislator T T V Dhinakaran, Sasikala's nephew and founder of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) had on Monday said a decision on the discharge of his aunt from the hospital would be taken after consulting the doctors.
Why was she imprisoned?
Sasikala was sentenced to four years imprisonment in February 2017 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case along with her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi and Jayalalithaa's foster son V N Sudhakaran.
According to a hospital bulletin, Sasikala is now doing well.
"She is asymptomatic, conscious alert and well oriented. She is being continuously monitored," the hospital said in the bulletin.
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Authorities at the Victoria hospital said as per Covid-19 protocol she may have to spend 10 days at the facility.
But, if her family wishes to shift her to a private hospital they are allowed to, he added.
On the other hand, Ilavarasi, who too had contracted coronavirus is asymptomatic. She will be free in the first week of February.
House-hunt for Sasikala
Once Sasikala returns to Chennai, she won’t able to step into ‘Veda Nilayam’, the residence of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, as the state government has taken possession of the property and will convert into a memorial, which will be open to the public on January 28.
With PTI inputs
