Sasikala In Thanjavur For Husband’s Last Rites After Parole

Bengaluru: AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala on Tuesday afternoon left for Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to attend her husband M. Natarajan's last rites after securing a 15-day parole, an official said.

"She has been granted parole for 15 days. During the period, she has been directed to limit her visit to Thanjavur and not to take part in any political activity," Bengaluru Central Jail Chief Superintendent M. Somashekar told IANS.

Natarajan, 74, died on Tuesday in Chennai after he was hospitalized on March 16 for chest infection and kept on ventilator support. His body is to be taken to his village in Thanjavur district, about 350 km south of Chennai, for last rites. Sasikala, 60, left from the central prison in a private car. She had reportedly collapsed in the prison on hearing the news of her husband's death. Natarajan's death made the Prison Department grant the parole a week after Sasikala's similar plea was rejected when he (Natarajan) was admitted at a Chennai hospital for treatment. Sasikala was last granted a parole for five days from October 6-12 to meet her husband who had then undergone a liver and kidney transplant in Chennai. Sasikala is currently serving a four-year sentence since February 15 last year after the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in a corruption case.

Sasikala Granted 15 Day Parole To Attend Husband’s Funeral

Jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala was granted parole for 15 days today by the prison authorities here to attend the funeral of her husband M Natarajan who passed away earlier during the day. The 74-year old Natarajan died at a hospital in Chennai early this morning, three days after he was admitted there with a severe chest infection.

He had undergone a kidney transplant last year. Sasikala is scheduled to leave for Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu where her husband's last rites would be performed. "A 15-day parole has been granted (to Sasikala) with a slew of  conditions," Jail Superintendent of Parappana Agrahara Central Jail Somashekhar told PTI. He said Sasikala is not allowed to hold public meetings or attend any political events during the period.

As part of the conditions, she would also have to remain within her jurisdiction, which is Thanjavur, and "serve only the purpose for which parole has been granted," he said. Sasikala is serving a four-year prison term in the Rs  66.6-crore disproportionate assets case at the Parappana  Agrahara jail here. PTI