Bengaluru: She smiled at last, after three weeks of staying mum. “When she was told that the Supreme Court had granted her conditional bail, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa smiled and thanked the prison staff in the Central Prison at Parapanna Agrahara for taking care of her,” said an official source.
The deputy inspector general of prisons Jaysimha broke the news to Ms Jayalalithaa the moment it was officially confirmed that the apex court had granted her bail along with her associates and co-accused Sasikala Natarajan and Ilavarsi, in the '66-crore disproportionate assets case.
Ms Jayalalithaa has kept aloof since her arrest on September 27 after the special court convicted her in the corruption case. Tagged as prisoner number 7402, she has been lodged in high-security cell number 23 in the women’s prison in the Central Prison with Ms Sasikala and Ms Ilavarsi with round-the-clock security provided by the prison department and city police and doctors and nurses on call.
“She has not stepped out of her cell in the last three weeks and refused interviews with visitors, including present TN Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, who had come to meet ‘Madam’. She eats the prison food barring brown bread and an apple, which she has for breakfast every day. She has refused hospitalisation and says that she is happy with the medical and nursing care by the prison doctors and nurses,” said the officer.
When the prison officers asked her if she wanted a TV set in her cell she refused. “She had asked for only two things; an iron cot because she has a chronic lower back pain and three English newspapers, which were given to her. She does not like to be disturbed and talks less,” the officer added.
Once known for her sartorial opulence, the AIADMK supremo has spent her days in the cell wearing ordinary saris, which were washed and ironed by other women prisoners.
“She knows the prison rules and has never asked for any favour,” the officer said.
