Sasikala gets parole, moves to Chennai to meet ailing husband

Restrictions: No political activity, no interaction with media, can only move between home and hospital

V K Sasikala, close aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, has been granted five-day emergency parole to meet her husband M Natarajan, who recently had a dual organ transplant in a Chennai hospital. Sasikala was sentenced for four years in prison in a 20-year-old disproportionate asset case and has been in jail in Bengaluru since February, 2017.

While the court had earlier rejected a similar parole application filed this week, it granted the application on Friday for a period of four days from October 7 to 11, subject to various conditions.

On Friday afternoon, Sasikala, who was appointed as General Secretary of the ruling All India Annda Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in December, 2016, and expelled by another general council meeting last month, commenced her journey to Chennai after getting parole.

During emergency parole, she can only visit the hospital in which her husband has been admitted and can stay at the address she has mentioned in the application. According to party leaders close to her, she is expected to stay in T Nagar.

There are restrictions on visitors meeting her at residence or hospital and she is not supposed to get involved in political or any other public activities. Sghe has also been barred from interacting with the media, according to reports.

Sasikala has been active in state politics after Jayalalithaa's death and her role was questioned by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, after her family allegedly pressurised him to step down in February. While this led to a split in the party and she was speculated to take over the charge of the government, the Supreme Court upheld an earlier order by a Special Court on the disproportionate asset case, which had earlier sentenced Jayalalithaa, Sasikala, her family members V N Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi to four years in jail.