A convicted serial killer housed next to the cell of VK Sasikala in Bengaluru jail has been shifted to Hindalga prison in Belagavi, north Karnataka.
Cyanide Mallika had last week made headlines because she was lodged in Parapanna Agrahara prison, where AIADMK chief VK Sasikala Natarajan is currently put up. What’s more, Mallika was held in the cell next to Sasikala’s.
Mallika was shifted out of Parapanna Agrahara because her presence there was considered by some as a threat to Sasikala’s life.
Sasikala, who was tipped to be the chief minister of Tamil Nadu after being elected as the legislature party’s leader, was convicted in the Disproportionate Assets case by the Supreme Court and sentenced to four years in jail. She has to also pay a fine of Rs 10 crore failing which 13 months of jail term will be added to her existing sentence.
Sasikala will be in jail for three years and about 11 months, out of the four years sentence awarded by the trial court. She had earlier spent 21 days in Parappana Agrahara jail after conviction by the trial court in September 2014.
“The convicts — Sasikala, Illavarasi and Sudhakaran — are getting (the same) treatment in the jail as others are getting and they have not been given any special treatment,” said Prisons Superintendent Krishna Kumar. For security reasons, Sasikala and Illavarasi have been lodged in the women’s block and they are living in a small cell, Kumar said.
‘Cyanide’ Mallika, possibly the country’s first woman serial killer, has been accused of killing six women. She allegedly identified rich women frequenting temples in and around Bengaluru, befriended them and killed them using cyanide before making off with their jewellery.
Citing officials, the report said that Mallika was shifted due to security reasons.
However, jail sources said that Mallika was friendly and cordial with Sasikala, the report further added.
Mallika’s shifting was a hush hush affair as she was not informed about the decision. She was just asked to pack up her belongings and get ready to shift to another cell. However, she was shifted to the Hindalga jail which is country’s one of oldest prisons. It also houses scores of convicts on death row, besides several accused in terror cases.
Even with Cyanide Mallika gone, Sasikala has other high-profile convicts for company, as is usual in most prisons. She is, for instance, lodged in the same cell as Shubha Shankarnarayan, who murdered her fiance with the help of her boyfriend and aides in 2003.
