Video: Footage shows Sasikala entering jail in civilian clothes

Bengaluru: A month after a top police official of Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru submitted a report to higher authorities claiming that AIADMK interim general secretary VK Saikala was getting VIP treatment in the prison, a video has emerged showing her walking into the prison from the main entrance in civil clothes.

The video shows Sasikala along with her relative Ilavarasi, convicted by the Supreme Court in a disproportionate assets case, walking into the main entry area of the high-security jail.

The video has now been handed over to the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the Karnataka police for further investigation. 

The CCTV footage is raising questions whether Sasikala and Ilavarasi were allowed to walk out of the prison by officials.

Whistleblower cop and former Deputy Inspector General of Police (Prisons) D Roopa had earlier alleged that top jail authorities were providing preferential treatment to Sasikala after taking a bribe of Rs 2 crore.

Roopa also alleged that some officials within her department were working against her to destroy the evidence she collected.

Earlier, Roopa told Deccan Chronicle in an exclusive interview that during her visit to Sasikala's cell, she had video recorded evidence on a handycam, which backed her claims of preferential treatment to Sasikala but the film was 'deleted' by some officials in the prison.

Roopa further said the video had all the evidence of preferential treatment meted out to Sasikala and backed her claims she had made in her letter.

In a sign that the battle was far from over, she also said she has more information on the irregularities which she would share in the follow-up letter which she would send to the Chief Secretary to the government and the DG and IGP in a day or two. Roopa also said besides a special kitchen, Sasikala was provided with a separate gallery to meet her visitors.

This is not for the first time that the claims of preferential treatment to Sasikala have been raised. Recently, in a reply to an RTI, it was revealed that Sasikala's visitors were allowed to meet her even after 5 pm which is the deadline to meet a prisoner.

Read: Sasikala VIP treatment: DIG transferred to traffic dept, JDS lambasts govt

Roopa was later transferred.

Sasikala has been lodged at the Parappana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru since her conviction in February in a disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives, VN Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi, all serving a four-year jail term.