Bengaluru: It was high drama outside the Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara on Saturday evening when former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa walked out of the gates to enter her SUV after completing the release formalities. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and around 300 AIADMK ministers, MPs and MLAs, who had arrived near the prison, were kept at a distance by the police officials.
Mr Pannerselvam, soon after he got a glimpse of Amma, threw himself flat on the ground with hands folded, while the other leaders bowed in respect. Ms Jayalalithaa kept her calm and composure as her convoy left the prison at 3.15 pm. Though the release orders reached the prison at 2.45 pm, the AIADMK supremo had asked the jail officials to let her stay till 3 pm so that the inauspicious Yamagandakala could pass. Her motorcade took the Elevated Expressway on the way to the HAL Airport, where a special chartered aircraft was waiting to fly her back to Chennai.
The ministers, MPs, MLAs and hundreds of supporters were seen waving AIADMK flags and shouting slogans in praise of Ms Jayalalithaa. A few supporters smashed pumpkins on the road to ward off evil, while a few others tried to burst crackers but were stopped by the police, who reminded them that ban orders under Section 144 were in place in 1 km radius of the prison.
The city civil and sessions court cleared the bail order at 2 pm and it reached the central prison around 2.45 p.m. After which it was a mere formality for Ms Jayalalithaa, who had spent 22 days in jail.
Around 1,500 civil, armed and traffic police personnel were deployed around the prison and the stretch leading to Hosur Road. Section 144 was in place since Friday noon and the entire area had been sanitised. The police had erected five checkpoints to control the movement of vehicles towards the prison. All the vehicles of supporters were stopped outside the banned area.
