Jayalalithaa to be released from jail Saturday
Bangalore, Oct 17 (IANS) Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalaithaa, who secured bail from the Supreme Court, will be released from the central jail here Saturday after the special court issues order on paying surety, a senior prison official said.
"As the special court has not received the Supreme Court order granting Jayalalithaa interim bail till evening, the judge (John Michael D'Cuna) could not issued the order to release her from jail Friday," Karnataka's Deputy Inspector General (prisons) P.M. Jaisimha told IANS here.
A three-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu stayed Jayalalithaa's four-year jail term in a corruption case that dragged on for 18 years and granted an interim bail till Dec 18.
"We will release Jayalalithaa from jail on receiving the special court's order and on paying surety the court will fix Saturday in compliance with the conditions the Supreme Court mentioned in the interim bail," Jaisimha said.
Though Jayalalithaa is aware of the apex court granting her conditional bail, the jail warden did not officially inform her, as he did not have the order from the special court till late Friday.
"Jayalalithaa has come to know that she got interim bail but does not have details. We will inform her about it after the special court sends the order and will release her by Saturday afternoon on paying surety to the court," Jaisimha said.
The special court Sep 27 convicted Jayalalithaa in the Rs.66 crore disproportionate assets case and sentenced her to four years simple imprisonment, with a fine of Rs.100 crore.
When the Karnataka High Court rejected her bail petition Oct 7, Jayalalithaa approached the apex court Oct 9.
In a related development, police imposed prohibitory orders in 1km radius of the central jailat Parappana Agrahara in the city's southern suburb by deploying an additional 1000 personnel to maintain law and order.
"We are prohibiting assembling of five or more people 1km around the prison for security reasons and prevent any untoward incident. The ban order will be in force till Jayalalithaa leaves the jail premises," Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told IANS.
As news on Jayalalithaa getting bail spread, hundreds of her jubilant fans and AIADMK cadres in the city and from Hosur across the border flocked to Parapanna Agrahara and celebrated the occasion.
Many party supporters distributed sweets to the people and waited on the National Highway 7, which is 2km away from the jail, till evening to see Jayalalithaa step out of jail and drive to the old airport from where she will fly to Chennai by a chartered aircraft.