Bengaluru: V.K.Sasikala is lodged at Parappana Agrahara central prison here ever since her conviction by the Supreme Court in February, 2017 in the disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a 4-year jail term.
The 295-page report by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar confirmed then DIG (Prisons) D Roopa’s claims in July 2017 that Sasikala was given preferential treatment and a separate kitchen functioned for her at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jailhere, RTI activist Narasimha Murthy said.
“I have accessed the 295 pages report through an RTI query. The report confirms that Sasikala was given special treatment in the jail,” he told PTI here.
The reply was furnished by M R Shobha, Public Relations Officer of the Home Department.
The report, a copy of which is available with PTI, said Sasikala, close aide of late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa, was allowed to wear her personal clothes and cook. A pressure cooker and spices were found in her prison cell. It also said there was separate visitors’ room for her and the corridor in the jail was barricaded for her.
Sasikala was provided five cells, despite no threat to her life as per intelligence reports, the report said.
The inquiry committee report said Sasikala enjoyed free movement within the prison which was corroborated by video clips. One of the videos showed Sasikala and co-convict Elavarasi going out of the female barrack with a bag in hand, it said.
The videos were submitted to the commission by Roopa along with other CCTV footage from inside the prison.
The report also found that, as per the CCTV footage, Sasikala met with a person in white shirt and white pants for over four hours on June 11, 2017.
According to the prison register, the person is A. Ashokan, her advocate. However, while it was mentioned in the register that she met with him for only 45 minutes the maximum time that a prisoner can spend with a visitor, the CCTV evidence that showed she met him for several hours.
The Daily Report (submitted by the chief superintendent of the prison for July 11, 2017) also showed that Elavarasi on that day had seven visitors, but the total time spent by her was recorded as 45 minutes from 2 pm.
“This can only be explained as deliberate misreporting on the part of the concerned prison officials to escape falling within the prohibition of Rule 601 of the Karnataka Prison Manual 1978. In other words, it is a case of falsification of records, the report noted.
According to police sources, the scope of inquiry of the Vinay Kumar committee was limited to irregularities in the Bengaluru central prison. Allegations of bribery would be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which has already registered a case against top prison officials and others, they said.
Mr. Kumar was assisted by senior IPS officer S. Ravi, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes), Bengaluru, and Chief Superintendent of Mysuru Central Prison P.V. Anand Reddy in the inquiry.
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