Expelled ADMK leader VK Sasikala had invited fresh trouble from Bangalore as the case that was filed against her while serving in the prison has now got resurrected with the High Court directing to disclose a report on the FIR registered against her. VK Sasikala, who was the close aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, had served four-year incarceration in the Parapanna Agrahara Prison in Bangalore after getting convicted in the disproportionate assets case in which Jayalalithaa was the accused number one. 

Sasikala had served the imprisonment with her relatives Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran, who were the co-convicts in the case, and she was lodged in the prison for four years from 2017 and she got released earlier this year. During her prison term, Sasikala was accused of enjoying preferential treatment behind the bars and several visuals had revealed that she had also exited the prison and had a scale of facilities more than the prison manual. It was found out during the searches conducted in the prison and based on the findings, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Karnataka had filed an FIR against her to conduct the probe into the preferential treatment. 

Years after filing the case, the Karnataka High Court has now sought a report on the investigation into the FIR filed by the ACB against Sasikala. According to reports, the court has asked the ACB to submit the details of the FIR in a sealed cover by August 25, 2021. The high court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed by a social worker Gita of Chennai. In her petition, Gita had asked for a detailed report from the prison authorities for a final report into the preferential treatment given to Sasikala in the prison. 

The petitioner had asked for the report based on the findings of a retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar, who investigated the allegations of preferential treatment given to Sasikala and her sister in law Illavarasi in the prison. Gita has said that the final report of the investigation is yet to be submitted. After hearing the petition, the division bench of the Karnataka High Court comprised of Justices Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Suraj Govindaraj had ordered the ACB to submit the details of the FIR in a sealed cover by August 25. It must be noted that the FIR was filed in 2018 and the Karnataka government had formed a committee under a retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar to probe the matter. 

In 2019, a 295-page report by Vinay Kumar has revealed that a separate kitchen was functioning for Sasikala and Illavarasi at the Parapanna Agrahara Prison and the report has also confirmed the findings of the then Deputy Inspector General of Prisons D Roopa during her raid in the prison. Roopa had informed her superior that there was a talk that Rs 2 crore was given for getting preferential treatment in the prison. However, the then Karnataka DGP had rejected such claims and transferred Roopa to a post in the state traffic police department. 

There were no major developments regarding the FIR and Sasikala has got released from the prison earlier this March and came to Chennai for the first time in four years and she was given a rousing welcome by her supporters. While it was expected that she will enter active politics, she announced that she is quitting politics. However, months later, Sasikala had begun working out her prospects to enter politics through her phone outreach as she had been speaking to the ADMK cadres and her supporters over the phone and assured them that she will enter politics. While her supporters are expecting her presence in politics, Sasikala has invited fresh trouble as the High Court has resurrected the case of preferential treatment inside the prison.