Sasikala granted five-day parole

Bengaluru:  Jailed AIADMK leader V K Sasikala was today granted parole for five days by prison authorities in Karnataka to meet her husband, who underwent a liver and kidney transplant at a Chennai hospital. Sasikala had sought parole for 15 days, but she has been granted for five days, jail authorities said.

After her first application was rejected on “technical grounds” on October three for not producing certain requisite documents, Sasikala had filed a fresh plea for parole. She is expected to leave for Chennai in the afternoon.

Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu Navneet Krishnan has given an undertaking for Sasikala’s parole, her lawyer Krisnappana told reporters outside the jail premises. “Rs 1,000 surety also has been deposited,” he added.

Around 100 supporters of Sasikala gathered outside the jail premises. Krisnappana said Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran had arrived at the jail and was completing the parole formalities. Tamil Nadu Police had earlier issued an NOC to the Karnataka government for granting parole to Sasikala, he said.

Sasikala’s husband, M Natarajan (74) underwent the liver and kidney transplant on October 3 with the organs harvested from a brain-dead youth, according to Gleneagles Global Health City hospital in Chennai. Sasikala has been in Parapana Agrahara central jail here since February this year after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction by a special court in a disproportionate assets case.

Her relatives Ilavarasi and V N Sudhakaran are also serving four-year jail terms.