Sasikala visited MLA’s house, says DIG Roopa

DIG Roopa had mentioned in her report that preferential treatment was being given to Sasikala (pix) in the prison by authorities

Karnataka Deputy Inspector General of Police D. Roopa, in a report to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has claimed that she had credible information on jailed AIADMK leader V. K. Sasikala visiting a house belonging to Hosur MLA, near the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison here. “This may be further ascertained by footages of CCTV cameras placed at the entrance of the jail and the cameras placed in between gate 1 and gate 2 of the jail,” Roopa said in her report submitted to the ACB. The DIG said she had submitted videos exposing special treatment given to Sasikala in the prison. “In one video Sasikala is attired in a cotton nightie. In other two videos she is in a mudcolour churidar and in one in an orange-red saree. “Of the four video clippings, in one of the videos, which is of 25 seconds, she is purportedly seen entering the jail from outside, wherein she is holding bags which look like shopping bags,” Roopa said.

Sasikala is lodged in the jail ever since her conviction in February in a disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi. They are all serving a four-year jail term. Another video showed three male prison warders in uniform guarding the gate and also a male convict. In female-barracks, there are no men -guarding the barracks, the video suggests.

On July 13, Roopa had mentioned that preferential treatment was being given to Sasikala in the prison by the authorities (amid allegations of bribes of Rs2.00 crore to jail officials), prompting the Karnataka government to order a probe into the allegations by the DIG of Police.

DIG Roopa had levelled the charges in a report to her superior, DGP (Prisons) H.S. Sathyanarayana Rao. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced a “highlevel probe” into the allegations as the two senior officers engaged in a bitter public spat.

Both were subsequently shifted. Roopa alleged that Sasikala has 'managed' to live the life of a Class 1 prisoner against the court order. In her report, she also alleged that even Karim Lala Telgi, who has been convicted in fake stamp-paper scam, had been given special treatment by prison officials. -PTI