Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's closest aide VK Sasikala has been in the political spotlight as she is nearing to complete her four-year prison sentence by the end of January or early February 2021. She had recently made headlines after moving her petition to the  Karnataka prison department seeking an early release under the grounds of remission. 

Sasikala has been serving her four-year prison sentence at the Central prison in Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru after getting convicted for the disproportionate assets case in which Jayalalithaa was the first accused. Sasikala has been lodged in prison since February 2017 along with her relatives Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran who are also convicted in the same case. The jailed leader has sought remission and premature release from prison and her early release application has been forwarded to the concerned state officials by the prison authorities.

While she has been counting her days to get acquitted from the four-year prison sentence, her counsel has revealed how Sasikala had spent her days while she was in prison. According to reports close to the developments, her counsel has said Sasikala had engaged herself in activities like gardening, made handicraft articles, and learning Kannada while in prison. The counsel had issued conformity that the jailed leader has moved her petition seeking remission and early release. 

PTI had reported that Sasikala could walk out of the prison early while her release is due on January 27, 2021. Recently, the Karnataka prison department had replied to an RTI query in which it had stated that Sasikala would be released from the prison on January 27, 2021. The court had slapped Rs 10 crore fine amount each for Sasikala and her two convicted relatives. The RTI reply said if Sasikala fails to pay the penalty of Rs 10 crore,  she would be awarded with one more year of prison. 

Sasikala had submitted her request for early release to the Parappana Agrahara Jail authorities on November 19 and in her petition, she had said that she had 129 days of remission in her credit and she would need only 69 days of that period to be released from jail as on November 19. The reports say that her request for early release has been forwarded to the head of the department for their consideration and it has been expected that the concerned authorities will take a final call on her early release.

On her eligibility of seeking remission, Sasikala's advocate Raja Senthoor Pandian that remission has been granted by the authorities of the Central jail in past for the prisoners who were convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The RTI reply for the counsel had said that the Union Home Ministry hasn't given any direction that remission should not be extended to those who had got convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). 

The counsel stated that her plea of remission and early release should be decided immediately. He added that it has been highlighted in her petition that the convicts under PCA had been granted remission by the prison authorities and stated that Sasikala's petition is under consideration by the authorities and the jailed leader is waiting for the response and counsel added that he is confident that they will get a good response from the prison department.