By ays after former AIADMK leader V K Sasikala tested positive for the novel coronavirus, her sister-in-law J Ilavarasi Saturday also tested positive for the virus. She is likely to undergo treatment at the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, where Sasikala is admitted.
Ilavarasi and Sasikala convicted in a disproportionate assets case and are lodged in Parappana Agrahara Central prison. While Sasikala is scheduled to walk out on January 27, Ilavarasi’s release date is yet to be known.
According to prison officials, Ilavarasi was tested for Covid-19 on Friday. After she tested positive, she was given initial treatment at the prison hospital before shifting to the Victoria Hospital.
“Both Sasikala and Ilavarasi were put in one cell, there were no other occupants. As a precautionary measure, we also subjected a couple of officials, who had accompanied Sasikala while shifting her to Bowring on Thursday. They underwent tests which came out as negative,” prison officials said.
Sasikala, a close aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday night. She was taken to Bowring Hospital on Wednesday after she complained of breathlessness. She was later shifted to Victoria Hospital following a request from her family. She was being treated in the ICU for Severe Acute Respiratory Infection.
The latest bulletin Saturday said Sasikala was “conscious, alert and well oriented”.
Sasikala was reportedly unwell at her prison cell for about a week and she was shifted to hospital after she developed a high temperature and complained of breathlessness.
Sasikala is serving a four-year prison term in a disproportionate assets case. The case pertains to the amassment of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during J Jayalalithaa’s tenure as chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-1996. In September 2013, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa to simple imprisonment of four years. She was slapped with a Rs 100 crore fine and forced to step down as the CM. The three co-accused — VK Sasikala, VN Sudhakaran, and J Ilavarasi were also convicted. They were awarded a fine amount of Rs 10 crore each.
Jayalalithaa challenged the conviction in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted her of all charges. However, in 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the special court verdict convicting all four of them. Charges against Jayalalithaa were abated in view of her death on December 5, 2016.
