INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
With just eight months to go for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the political temperature in the state is rising, slowly but steadily
likely to be released from the Bengaluru central prison on January 27, 2021, or maybe even sooner.According to her lawyer Raja Senthura
Pandian, the deceased AIADMK chief's right-hand person may come out of jail by early next year
Just in time to kick up a political storm with AIADMK, which barely stitched itself back together after Jayalalithaa's demise in 2016.On
14 February 2017, VK Sasikala and two of her relatives - Illavarasi and Sudhakaran - were sentenced to four years imprisonment and Rs 10
crore fine by the Supreme Court overruling the Karnataka High Court order in a disproportionate asset case.Sasikala's early
early release.Her release date will depend on three factors - the number days she stayed out of jail on parole, the number of days she spent
in jail in connection with the case prior to her conviction and the days she has collected as ordinary remission for good behaviour during
her time in prison.Sasikala, since her imprisonment, has been on out on parole twice in October 2017 for five days when her husband
Natarajan was unwell, and later in March 2019, for 12 days when Natarajan passed away.And she spent a total of 35 days in jail in connection
with the case in 1997 and 2014
"If we subtract the 17 days of parole from 35 days she already served prior to conviction, she is left with 18 extra days
Since her date of release is February 14, 2021, the 18 extra days will allow her to walk out prison on January 27 without even considering
days of ordinary remission collected by her over the course of four years," Sasikala's lawyer Raja Senthura Pandian said."According to the
Karnataka prison manual, Sasikala is eligible for three days per month known as ordinary remission
And as per the manual, any prisoner is eligible for ordinary remission for good conduct
Since February 2017, Sasikala has already spent 43 months in jail, giving her 129 days or ordinary remission," Raja Senthur Pandian said."If
she the prison considers her 129 days, she can be released by end of this month," he said.Factors that may delay Sasikala's releaseWhile
of her sentence.In an RTI reply given to a Bengaluru lawyer and activist, Narasimha Murthy, the prison authority has stated that the likely
release of January 27, 2021, may be deferred by a year, to February 2022, if the in-default fine as ordered by the court Rs 10 crore is not
Sasikala chooses to apply for further parole.Another factor that may hit her release date is the irregularities found by IPS officer D Roopa
in the prison facility where Sasikala was jailed
Sasiala was alleged to have been given special privileges in the prison
In January 2019, the commission - appointed by the then Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah - found that the allegations were true and
that there were multiple irregularities in the way high profile prisons were treated
The irregularities found against Sasikala included free movement within the prison, increased visiting hours, falsified records, and five
VK Sasikala had seen massive political turmoil within the AIADMK
the incumbent AIADMK in Tamil Nadu polls, the ruling party's spokesperson offered no comments on her release.Speaking to India Today TV,
AIADMK spokesperson Kovai Sathyan said, "We have no comments with respect to her release and AIADMK as a party has nothing to lose even
after her release."Sasikala's political entry post the demise of former CM J Jayalalithaa had created a split within the AIADMK and now,
