Prison official denies report of Sasikala bribing jail authorities for VIP treatment

Karnataka’s Director General of Prisons H. Satyanarayana Rao has denied charges by a woman police officer that he had taken money to provide special facilities to jailed AIADMK General Secretary V.K. Sasikala.

DIG (Prisons) Rupa Moudgil alleged that Sasikala was getting VIP treatment with a makeshift kitchen in her cell in the Parappana Agrahara Jail, with another inmate preparing food for her.

Moudgil levelled the charges in a report to the Director General of Police and the Chief Secretary. Law Minister T.B. Jayachandra has promised to launch a probe and take action, if necessary.

Rao said the allegations were false. “There is no facility given to Sasikala. She is an ordinary prisoner. No undue favours have been given to her,” he said.

He said if Moudgil had come to know about the so-called special facilities, she could have discussed it with him. “But to go and discuss it in the open without evidence is wrong.”

Rao said in the past he had given memos to her on two occasions when she had gone public on some issues.

Maintaining her charge, Moudgil demanded a fact-finding probe into what she had said. “There are facts in the report (sent by me).”

AIADMK spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi said Sasikala had been dragged into a fight between two officials because she was a VIP and an accusation against an ordinary person would not attract attention.