Sasikala paid Rs.2 crore to jailer for 'undue' favours in central prison: Report

AIADMK General Secretary and convict V.K. Sasikala Natarajan was on Wednesday accused of bribing Karnataka Director General of Prisons (DGP) Satyanarayana Rao and city central jail officials for undue favours.

"Sasikala has given Rs 1 crore bribe to Rao and another Rs 1 crore was distributed among officials, including warden of the central jail where she is serving 4-year sentence in an illegal wealth case for allowing her special privileges," said a local news channel thats quoted Deputy Inspector of Prisons (DIG) Roopa Moudgil submitted to the state government.

Roopa has also asserted that a bribe worth Rs. 2 crore was given to the prison officials, including the Director General (Prisons) in order to avail special facilities.While Roopa was not reachable to confirm the bribery and other charges, Rao, however, denied them and accused Roopa of gross sub-ordination.

"I have served a memo to her (Roopa) seeking explanation and evidence to prove her wild allegations. She has not given any report to me or the government against me or other jail officials," Rao told IANS.

In a sensational revelation, Roopa said 59-year-old Sasikala was getting royal treatment in the women's cell where she has been lodged since February 15 to serve her sentence.Co-convicts Sasikala's sister-in-law Elavarasi and nephew V.K. Sudhakaran were also held guilty by a trial court in September 2014 and upheld by the Supreme Court on February 14 in the two-decade-old disproportionate assets case of former Tamil Nadu



Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

"As a reward for bribing the prison authorities from Rao to jail warden, Sasikala gets special menu daily, cooked by special chefs in a special kitchen near the women's cell," Roopa is said to have mentioned in the report.Roopa has also mentioned about stamp paper scam accused Abdul Kareem too getting special facilities.

“Earlier, he was on wheelchair and court allowed people for his assistance. But now, when he is fine, why is this continuing? In fact, three or four undertrials are there to serve him, who even gave him hands and feet massage,” the letter stated.

She also mentioned that she got medical check-up of jail inmates done and in the drug test it has come to light that many convict prisoners are using various types of drug kits in the jail.

She even exposed that a prisoner in the jail had tried to sexually assault a nurse in the hospital while he was bought for check-up, but no action taken over it.Roopa even pointed out that prisoners are harassing doctors to prepare fake report stating they be shifted to hospital citing health reasons.

She also said that the DGP was trying to interfere with her work. She said a memo was sent by the DGP to her seeking an explanation on why she went to Central Jail on July 10.

The 2000 batch IPS officer is the first woman in the southern state to have been recently (June 23) appointed DIG of the prisons department.