VK Sasikala’s Assets Worth Rs 1,600 Crore Attached Under Benami Act: Reports

Income Tax officials have reportedly attached properties worth Rs 1,600 crore under provisions of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act that were allegedly purchased by jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala after demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes was announced by the Narendra Modi government in November 2016.  

According to The Hindu, the nine properties, located in Chennai, Puducherry, and Coimbatore, were allegedly procured after the November 8, 2016, demonetisation.

Sources told the newspaper that the Initiating Officer of Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) under the Income Tax Department, Chennai, has issued attachment orders under Section 24(3) of the Act, and sent them to the respective Sub-Registrars and Registrar of Companies. The provisional attachment is for 90 days.

Sasikala, former chief minister Jayalalithaa's close aide, has been lodged in the jail since February 2017, when the Supreme Court upheld her conviction by a special court in a disproportionate assets case and sentenced her to four years imprisonment.

Sasikala, who took over the reins of AIADMK after the death of Jayalalithaa in December 2016, was later removed from the party by the Chief Minister K Palaniswami-led camp.

Her relatives Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran are also serving a four-year jail term in the case. Sasikala was also in the news for getting alleged preferential treatment in the jail.

Videos went viral showing her strolling in the jail corridor in civil dress.

The then deputy inspector general of police (prisons) D Roopa who raked up the issue had even alleged that Rs two crore bribe was paid to her superiors for the privileged treatment.