Sasikala objects to disclosure of info

Sasikala objects to disclosure of info

Date of her release had been revealed

25/09/2020

Staff ReporterBengaluru

V.K. Sasikala, serving sentence in a corruption case in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison here, has written to the Chief Superintendent of the prison objecting to the prison authorities disclosing information about her release date and other information in response to Right to Information (RTI) application filed by third parties.

A copy of the letter available with The Hindu quotes an earlier precedent where Tihar Jail authorities had turned down an RTI application regarding details of undertrials on the ground of privacy, that was later upheld by the Central Information Commission.

Recently, prison authorities had revealed that the four-year sentence of Sasikala would come to an end by February 2021, and she would be released from prison on payment of ₹10 crore fine stipulated by the court. The date of her release has attained significance in the light of the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.

ACB probe

Meanwhile, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is continuing its probe pertaining to allegations of corruption over providing special facilities to Sasikala and her relative in the prison. A copy of the letter ACB has written to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, the competent authority which has to permit the ACB to probe corruption allegations against an officer, on June 28, 2019, is available with The Hindu.

IPS officer D. Roopa, who was DIG (Prisons) then, had in 2017 alleged that Sasikala had been given special facilities in the prison and also alleged ₹2 crore exchanging hands for the same, triggering a series of actions by the Karnataka government. A committee led by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar probed alleged irregularities at the prison, submitted its findings and recommended ACB probe. Based on directions from the State government, the ACB registered a case against the officer and the probe is still under way.

There were allegations that CCTV footage showed Sasikala returning to jail from outside in civil clothes carrying shopping bags.