VK Sasikala, the closest aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, has got a new set of trouble from the Income Tax department after the Central government body has, on Wednesday, attached the properties in Siruthavur and Kodanad in Tamil Nadu. These two properties worth Rs 2000 crore belong to Jayalalithaa and purchased in the name of VK Sasikala's sister-in-law Ilavarasi and Jayalalithaa's foster son VN Sudhakaran.

The trio - Sasikala, Ilavarasi, and Sudhakaran have been serving the four-year prison sentence after they were convicted in the Disproportionate Assets case, in which Jayalalithaa was the first accused. They have been lodged at the Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara, Bangalore. The recent action from the IT department in attaching the properties of the former Chief Minister has come when the trio has been months ahead of getting released from the prison. 

According to reports, the IT department has attached the properties under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 and it includes 44.3 acres at Siruthavur village and other properties in Kodanad. Following the action, the IT department has issued a press release in which it has said that the assets belonging to former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's aide in Kodanad and Siruthavur areas have been attached". The bungalows in Kodanad and Siruthavur were used by Jayalalithaa and the state had seen her working from Kodanad estate near Ooty during summer. 

On Wednesday, the orders of the IT department dated October 6, were pasted on the Siruthavur property and the department had also sent copies of the orders to Jayalalithaa's legal Deepa and Deepak. The authorities had also sent copies to the Central Prison in Bangalore, where Sudhakaran and Illavarasi have been lodged.

By issuing the notice to the legal heirs of Jayalalithaa and to the accused, the reports say that it has become apparent that the properties belonged to the former Chief Ministers were benamis. In its notice, the IT department said, "It is ordered that you are hereby prohibited and restrained, until further order or till 90 days from the date of the notice, whichever is earlier, from transferring or charging the properties and that all persons are hereby prohibited from taking any benefit under such transfer of charge". 

Earlier in August, the Income Tax department had attached the properties worth Rs 300 crore that belong to Sasikala and her relatives. The attached properties include the asset owned by Sasikala near Veda Nilayam, which was the residence of Jayalalithaa. Sasikala had purchased the asset and constructed a residence to reside in after she got released from the prison. 

Sasikala had purchased the property under the Benami firm Sri Haricharan Estates and she has started the construction of her new residence opposite Veda Nilayam. While the jailed leader was shocked by the action, from the IT department, and she faced further trouble in September when the department had attached 65 properties belonging to Sasikala and her family that were acquired during 2003-2005. In a third blow, the department has now attached the properties in Kodanad and Siruthavur worth Rs 2000 crore. 

The reports stated that the IT department had attached the properties based on the raids conducted in 2017. The authorities had conducted raids in 187 properties of Sasikala and her relatives and uncovered the tax evasion worth Rs 1430 crore. Sasikala has been serving the imprisonment since 2017 and according to the recent RTI reply given by the prison, she would be getting released in January next year, much ahead of the Tamil Nadu legislative elections.