Sasikala visits Hosur MLA's house near prison: D Roopa in report to ACB

Bengaluru: Former deputy inspector general of police (DIG) (Prisons) D Roopa, in her report to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), has alleged that jailed AIADMK interim general secretary VK Sasikala ‘sometimes’ visits the house of a Hosur MLA.

According to a report in The Hindu, Roopa said that she has ‘reliable information’ that Sasikala visited the house of Hosur MLA near the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru, where she is lodged.

“There is reliable information that she sometimes goes to a house near the Central Jail that belongs to the Hosur MLA. This may be further ascertained by CCTV cameras placed at the entrance of the jail and the cameras placed in between gate 1 & gate 2 of the jail,” The Hindu cited an excerpt from Roopa’s report.

In her report to the ACB, Roopa alleged that the jail authorities gave special treatment to Sasikala without seeking approval of the court and the Karnataka government. They misled the Home Minister and Home Secretary by submitting false details about the facilities given to Sasikala in the prison.

The report further mentioned that the Additional Inspector General’s (Prison) letter to Home Minister’s Private Secretary in February presented “wrong” facts that Sasikala wore white jail uniform and ate jail food.

“She [Sasikala] has been provided a luxurious bed and a cot. This has not been brought to the notice of Hon’ble Court and no permission by Court taken even if it is for health reasons,” the report said, adding that she wears her own clothes.

"In one video Sasikala is attired in a cotton nightie. In other two videos she is in a mud-color chudidar and Ilavarasi in an orange/red saree. Of the four video clippings, in one of the videos, which is of 25 seconds, she is purportedly seen entering the jail from outside, wherein she is holding bags which look like shopping bags," PTI cited an excerpt from Roopa's report.

In the report, Roopa has also accused then DGP of Prisons Sathyanarayana Rao of “not making any efforts” to repair phone jammers even though a private company was awarded Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC). The company was even paid for the contract that is worth crores of rupees.

“No efforts have been made to repair them as it suits jail officials because the officers, for pecuniary gains, wilfully allow the convicts and under-trial prisoners to use mobile phones in gross violation of the Prison Rules,” the report said.

Sasikala has been lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru since February when the Supreme Court convicted her in a disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives VN Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi.