BENGALURU: Former AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, who is serving a four-year jail sentence after being convicted in a disproportionate assets case, paid the Rs 10 million fine that the trial court imposed on him in the case.
Muthukumar, a Chennai defender representing Sasikala, submitted four DDs for the fine amount to a special court here on Tuesday and collected a receipt confirming the payment on Wednesday.
The recognition was presented to the superintendent of central prison, Bengaluru, where Sasikala is imprisoned.
“We received the receipt around 7 pm,” confirmed prison officials.
Sasikala will now be released after serving a four-year prison term. According to prison officials, Sasikala will be released in late January or the first week of February. The uncertainty about the release date is due to the belief that Sasikala spent a few days in judicial custody in Tamil Nadu in the prosecution case and the same will have to be taken into account.
The four DDs were drawn by Sasikala supporters from two different banks in Chennai. The first DD was Rs 3.25 crore was from Vasanta Devi; the second from Palani Vel for 3.75 million rupees; the third for Rs 3 crore was from Hema and the fourth for Rs 10,000 on behalf of Vivek.
According to defender Muthukumar, the amount of the fine specified in the copy of the judgment was Rs 10,00,10,000. “We presented the four DDs to court on Tuesday. On Wednesday night, the judge issued the receipt, ”he said.
On September 27, 2014, Special Judge John Michael Cunha convicted the four defendants in the Prosecution case: the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa, VK Sasikala, J Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran – and sentenced them to four years in prison and fined Jayalalithaa Rs 100 crore and Rs 10 crore each on the other three convicts. If the convicts did not pay the amount of the fine, they had to spend one more year in prison, the special judge had said in his order.
The quartet appealed against this verdict to the Karnataka High Court and on May 11, 2015, Judge CR Kumaraswamy acquitted all four.
This verdict was challenged before the apex court and on February 14, 2017. A high court tribunal consisting of Justices Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Amitav Roy upheld the lower court order reversing the acquittal order issued by the Karnataka high court with respect to Sasikala, Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran. Jayalalithaa had died when the high court issued its order.
.
