Bengaluru:Erstwhile AIADMK leader and close aide of the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Shashikala Natarajan has been released officially from the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, after serving four years sentence in a corruption case, here on Wednesday morning.
According to official sources, the Central Jail officers, who had visited the Victoria Hospital, where she was being treated for contracted for the COVID-19, had completed the process of releasing her.Sasikala, had been admitted to the Victoria Hospital, after tested positive for the COVID-19 and she is on a recovery path under the observations of the medical staff in the hospital.
The Tamil Nadu leader, had been convicted in the disproportionate Asset case in 2017, and was serving the sentence at the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, since then.
Sasikala, who surrendered before authorities at the Bengaluru jail on February 15, 2017, was rushed to the Lady Curzon and Bowring Hospital on January 20 after she complained of breathing issues.
The next day, she was shifted to Victoria Hospital where she tested positive for Covid-19. Sasikala’s health condition is said to be stable with doctors saying that she was showing good progress.
A huge crowd of Sasikala supporters lined up outside the Victoria Hospital, raising slogans in her favour and distributed sweets in celebration.
Her release from jail comes just months before Tamil Nadu faces its most-crucial Assembly elections in recent times. Though Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dhinakaran, who is the general secretary of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), maintains that his aunt would plunge into active politics immediately after her release, there is little clarity on what she would do.
The expelled leader from the AIADMK, is likely to be shifted to a Tamil Nadu hospital, to recover fully from the COVID-19, and she is likely to continue in the Victoria Hospital for some more days as per her wish , hospital sources said.
At present, she is shifted to ward from ICU.Along with Sasikala, her close aide and relative Ilavarasi, she was also convicted in the same case also released from the jail, the sources said.
(UNI)
