Sasikala appears before court via video conference in FERA case

AIADMK (Amma) general secretary V K Sasikala, who is currently lodged in the Bengaluru prison after getting convicted in DA case, appeared before a court for economic offences here through video conferencing on Wednesday in connection with Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) case filed by Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Sasikala's appearance follows her nephew V N Sudhakaran, who is also lodged in Bengaluru prison along with his aunt, came to the court in the same case on Tuesday after obtaining transit warrant from the jail authorities.

Sudhakaran's brother V Bhaskaran, another nephew of Sasikala, also appeared before the court in the case on Tuesday.

Sasikala was not produced in person since her counsel submitted medical reasons for her inability to travel from Bengaluru to Chennai. Following this, a hearing through video conferencing was organised.

ED had filed cases against the accused of violating FERA regulations. They were charged with making payments in Singapore and US dollars to foreign companies for procuring high-tech transponders, equipment and uplinking facilities for a private TV channel during 1995 and 1996.

Charges were framed against all the accused by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offence-II) S Malarmathy and posted the matter for further hearings on July 13.