Karnataka home minister says yet to be briefed about special treatment to Sasikala

Karnataka Home Minister M B Patil Friday said he was yet to be briefed on the report of an inquiry committee that went into charges of preferential treatment to ousted AIADMK leader V K Sasikala at the prison here and would take action after discussions with department officials. Patil, who took over as Home Minister after the cabinet rejig on December 22, asserted that nobody was above the law and there was no need to protect anybody.

"It has come to my notice through media reports about RTI... Nobody is above the law..." he told reporters here. "There was inquiry...I'm holding discussions. Officially I'm yet to be briefed on it. I cannot act on media reports. I have taken cognizance of media reports. I will discuss withour department officials and whatever is needed will be done. What is the need to protect anybody," he added.

An RTI query revealed that 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 the allegations by a senior police official, The 295-page report by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar confirmed that the then DIG (Prisons) D Roopa's claims in July 2017that Sasikala was given preferential treatment and a separate kitchen functioned for her at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail here, RTI activist Narasimha Murthy had recently said.

Kumar had submitted his report to the government on November 17, 2017, but its contents were not made public. Asked if action would be taken based on the report, Patil said "definitely...I have not been officially briefed about it... I have to ascertain about it as the home minister and will act accordingly." 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.