Will sue Roopa if she does not withdraw her charges: AIADMK

Ruling AIADMK today said it would take legal action against senior Karnataka police official D Roopa if she did not withdraw her charges that party general secretary V K Sasikala was provided special treatment in prison, contravening laws.

AIADMK mouthpiece 'Namadhu Dr MGR' quoted the party's Perambur MLA and district secretary P Vetrivel and party's Karnataka state unit secretary V A Pugazhendi as saying that legal actions would be taken if Roopa did not take back her 'false charges.'

As DIG (Prison) a few days ago, Roopa had alleged that Sasikala was provided amenities flouting prison rules. Though she was eased out of the prison department subsequently, she continues to stick to her stand.
 

Sasikala is lodged at Parappana Agrahara central prison in Bengaluru ever since her conviction in February in the disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, all serving a 4-year jail term.

Extensively quoting the Karnataka Prison Manual, the AIADMK mouthpiece explained rules that permitted amenities for those sentenced to simple imprisonment and in respect of women prisoners.

Convicts undergoing simple imprisonment are allowed to wear their own clothes and use their own mattress.

With the permission of jail superintendent, the class-1 prisoners could also cook food for themselves inside the jail out of their money and may get help from other prisoners in this regard as well, the daily said.

They are entitled to a table, a chair and a mirror.

Similarly, they could buy fruits, biscuits from their own funds and get them from their friends and relatives too.

Such prisoners could also get help from other prisoners in cleaning the cooking utensils with the permission of the jail superintendent, it said.

They could also read books, magazines and newspapers from the prison library and may even buy them from outside if a particular magazine or book is not available in jail.

Though she was entitled to such amenities, Sasikala did not even fully utilise them, the ruling party's mouthpiece, which is perceived to have the backing of party deputy general secretary T T V Dhinakaran's faction, said.

"While this is the real status, former Karnataka Prison DIG Roopa is making allegations. There is not even an iota of truth in any of her charges and she has not released any evidence for the same," the daily said, attributing it to the party functionaries.

"It is obvious that Chinnamma is fully following all prison rules and she was not provided any special treatment, flouting laws."

The Karnataka government had on July 17 shunted out Roopa who brought to light the alleged special treatment to Sasikala in the central prison in Bengaluru and dragged her senior into a bribery row over the matter.

While shifting DIG (Prisons) D Roopa, the government also transferred DGP (Prisons) H N Sathyanarayana Rao after they sparred over a report on the charges in public.