Sasikala to be freed from jail on January next year

Bengaluru: Late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's aide V K Sasikala, serving a four year-term in a corruption case here, may be released from jail next January provided she paid the fine amount of Rs 10 crore, Karnataka Prison department has said.

Sasikala, lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Prison here, was convicted and sentenced in February 2017 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets case.

"As per prison records, convict prisoner number 9234 Sasikala's 'probable date of release' is January 27, 2021, provided in-default fine amount is paid as awarded by the honourable court," Superintendent of Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara, R Latha said in response to an RTI query.

The reply was to the query by activist T Narasimha Murthy on September 11. Latha added Sasikala's "probable date of release" would be February 27, 2022 if the fine is not paid. The officer explained the probable date of release may vary if Sasikala utilises a parole facility.

She will have to pay Rs 10 crore to walk out of prison on January 27, 2021, else spend another 13 months behind bars.

After the Supreme Court restored the trial court judgement in toto against Sasikala and two of her close relatives in the disproportionate assets case,(V N Sudhakaran and J Elavarasi), she surrendered before the court in Karnataka on February 15, 2017 and has been lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Jail.

Her two relatives are also undergoing four years simple imprisonment and all three of them were slapped with a fine of Rs 10 crore each.