Sasikala's sister-in-law Ilavarasi too tests positive

Bengaluru: A day after V.K. Sasikala, the jailed aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, tested positive for coronavirus, her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi too got infected with the virus on Saturday. She is likely to undergo treatment at Victoria Hospital, where Sasikala is admitted.

Ilavarasi and Sasikala are convicted in a disproportionate assets case and have been lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central prison. While Sasikala is scheduled to walk out of jail on January 27, Ilavarasi's release date is yet to be decided by court. According to prison officials, Ilavarasi test reports on Covid-19 came on Friday late night.

After she tested positive, she was given initial treatment at the prison hospital before being shifted to Victoria Hospital.

"Both Sasikala and Ilavarasi were put in one cell, there were no other occupants. As a precautionary measure, we also subjected a couple of officials, who had accompanied Sasikala while shifting her to Bowring on Thursday, to tests. They tested negative for the virus," a source from the prison said.

Sasikala is serving a four-year prison term in the case pertaining to disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during J Jayalalithaa's tenure as chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-1996. In September 2013, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa to four years simple imprisonment . She was slapped with a Rs 100 crore fine and forced to step down as the CM. The three co-accused — VK Sasikala, VN Sudhakaran, and J Ilavarasi were also convicted. They were slapped a fine of Rs 10 crore each.

Jayalalithaa challenged the conviction in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted her of all charges. However, in 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the special court verdict convicting all four of them.