Sasikala diagnosed with acute respiratory infection, stable

Sasikala was taken to Victoria Hospital for CT Scan on Thursday morning. “Sasikala’s fever has come down and her oxygen saturation is normal. She was walking around and had her breakfast in the morning. We don’t think there is any problem now. Since she has SARI symptoms we have referred for a CT Scan,” Dr Manoj Kumar added.

Sasikala, 66, who was a close aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha was shifted to the hospital on Wednesday after her blood oxygen dropped to less than normal level and she complained about fever and breathlessness.

Sasikala is serving a four-year prison term in a disproportionate assets case. According to her lawyers, she was set to walk out of the prison on January 27, 2021.

Sasikala’s nephew and AMMK chief T T V Dhinakaran, who rushed to Bengaluru, said that Sasikala’s health is stable. Earlier on Thursday morning, speaking to the media in Bengaluru, he said “Our lawyer got the information from the prison authorities yesterday evening. He was told she (Sasikala) was having a fever for a couple of days. The authorities had taken her to the healthcare centre inside the prison and checked her oxygen level and it was below the normal level and hence immediately they shifted her to this hospital. People don’t need to get panicked. Because of the infection, she needs oxygen support.”

Sasikala’s lawyer Raja Senthoor Pandian also told indianexpress.com that there won’t be any change in her release date. “Sasikala was taken to the hospital by prison authorities and she didn’t come on any parole to postpone her release date,” he added on Wednesday.

The case of Sasikala pertains to the amassment of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 66.65 crore during J Jayalalithaa’s tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1991-1996. In September 2013, a special court convicted Jayalalithaa to simple imprisonment of four years. She was slapped with a Rs 100-crore fine and forced to step down as the Chief Minister. The three co-accused – VK Sasikala, VN Sudhakaran, and J Ilavarasi were also convicted. They were awarded a fine amount of Rs 10 crore each.

Jayalalithaa challenged the conviction in the Karnataka High Court, which acquitted her of all charges. However, in 2017, the Supreme Court upheld the special court verdict convicting all four of them. Charges against Jayalalithaa were abated in view of her death on December 5, 2016.