KA-SASIKALA-REPORT

Sasikala given preferential treatment in prison:Inquiry report Bengaluru, Jan 20 (PTI)Ousted AIADMK leader V K

Sasikala was given special treatment in a prison here, where she is serving imprisonment in a corruption case, according to

the report by an inquiry committee that went into allegations by a senior police official, an RTI query has revealed.

The 295-page report confirmed then DIG (Prisons) D Roopa's claims in July 2017 that Sasikala was given

preferential treatment and a separate kitchen functioned for her at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jailhere, RTI activist

Narasimha Murthy said. "I have accessed the 295 pages report through an RTI

query. The report confirms that Sasikala was given special treatment in the jail," he told PTI here.

The reply was furnished by M R Shobha, Public Relations Officer of the Home Department.

The then Siddaramaiah government had ordered an inquiry by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar to probe the allegations

made by Roopa after the issue snowballed. In a report submitted on July 12 to DGP (Prisons) H N

Sathyanarayana Rao, Roopa had said there was "a talk" that Rs two crore had exchanged hands to give preferential treatment

for Sasikala and there were allegations against him also, charge rejected by him.

The issue had caused embarrassment to the then Congress government led by Siddaramaiah which ordered the transfer of

Roopa and Rao after both sparred in public. Sasikala is lodged at Parappana Agrahara central prison

here ever since her conviction by the Supreme Court in February, 2017 in the disproportionate assets case along with

her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a 4-year jail term.

Kumar had submitted his report to the government on November 17, 2017 but its contents were not made public.

The report, a copy of which is available with PTI, said Sasikala, close aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister

Jayalalithaa, was allowed to wear her personal clothes and cook. A pressure cooker and spices were found in her prison

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 inquiry committee report said Sasikala enjoyed free

movement within the prison which was corroborated by video clips. One of the videos showed Sasikala and co-convict

Elavarasi going out of the female barrack with a bag in hand, it said.

The videos were submitted to the commission by Roopa along with other CCTV footage from inside the prison.

The report also found that, as per the CCTV footage, Sasikala met with a person in white shirt and white pants for

over four hours on June 11, 2017. According to the prison register, the person is A.

Ashokan, her advocate. However, while it was mentioned in the register that she met with him for only 45 minutes the

maximum time that a prisoner can spend with a visitor, the CCTV evidence that showed she met him for several hours.

The Daily Report (submitted by the chief superintendent of the prison for July 11, 2017) also showed that Elavarasi on

that day had seven visitors, but the total time spent by her was recorded as 45 minutes from 2 pm.

"This 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. In other words, it is a case of

falsification of records, the report noted. It also found two other similar manipulation of visitor

timings.