VK Sasikala will not be able to participate in the elections for two more years.
Chennai:
Three months before VK Sasikala, the assistant to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, is released, his assets amounting to Rs 2 billion have been frozen by the Income Tax department. The 69-year-old, who was jailed in 2017 in a disproportionate assets case in which the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was the main defendant, may be released from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Jail in late January.
His release is expected to come months before Tamil Nadu’s state elections, scheduled for May 2021.
Department sources said the action was carried out in accordance with the 2017 Supreme Court order. However, it is not known why the action was initiated so late. The seized assets are located in the Kodanad and Siruthavur areas of Tamil Nadu, the Income Tax department said.
The IT department’s action also comes on the day that Senior Deputy Minister O Pannerselvam announced Senior Minister E Palaniswami as the lead ministerial candidate of the state’s ruling AIADMK.
VK Sasikala cannot participate in the elections for two more years and in the days since she went to jail, the politics in her party and the state have changed enormously.
In the months following Jayalalithaa’s death in office, Sasikala took over the ruling AIADMK and even attempted to take over as chief minister until she was sentenced to prison.
But now, Panneerselvam and Palaiswami jointly control the party and the government.
Sasikala’s nephew, TTV Dinakaran, whom she had placed in a key role before being imprisoned, left AIADMK and formed his own party.
Last month, in response to a query under the Right to Information Act, central prison authorities said Sasikala would be released on January 27 if he pays the fine of 10 crore and 10 lakh rupees.
However, his lawyer Rajasenthur Pandian expects him to come out on October 27.
“Each prisoner is entitled to 3 days of referral for each month for good behavior and thus, during the 43 months that he has served so far, his sentence would be reduced by 129 days. There is no reason to deny it,” said Pandian. reporters.
In addition to this, the Police Superintendent or the Inspector General can send 30 or 60 days, respectively, depending on the record, after two-thirds of the term has elapsed, he added.
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