Chennai: With the past catching up with her, troubles are mounting for VK Sasikala, the confidant of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Continuing to tighten the screw on her, the Income Tax authorities have sealed the palatial farmhouse at Payyanur on the city outskirts, said to be owned by her, under the Benami Property Transactions (Prohibition) Act. Losing no time, the original owner of the farmhouse in a 22-acre area, acclaimed music director Gangai Amaran, had made it clear that he would make efforts to recover the property.
For Amaran, brother of maestro Ilayaraja, it was a dream project but had to part with it to Sasikala and Jayalalithaa, who used to spend time at the farmhouse in the vicinity of the backwaters of the Bay of Bengal. He is not alone. Peter Earl Edward Jones—the previous owner of the Kodanad estate, also owned by the duo, has vowed to retrieve it. Both Amaran and Jones maintain that they were threatened and their properties snatched away for a paltry sum.
During Jayalalithaa's first term as Chief Minister (1991-96), the Sasikala clan was accused of having carried out on a property acquisition spree. Both faced the Disproportionate Assets case in which Sasikala and two of her family members were convicted and served a four-year jail term from February 2017, while Jayalalithaa had predeceased. But, all four including Jayalalithaa had to pay a court-imposed fine of Rs 10 crore. The Payyanur bungalow was among the Rs 100 crore worth contiguous properties recently attached by the IT Department. Earlier, the 900-acre Kodanad tea estate and other properties worth Rs 2000 Crore were attached.
Also Read: OPS-Sasikala meeting after 4 years of 'Dharma Yudham' sparks speculation of realignment
Close on the heels of Jones, Amaran had renewed his fight to retrieve his property. He has come out in the open saying that he would soon submit to Chief Minister MK Stalin the documents of the Payyanur property and how he was threatened to part with it for a meagre amount. “I would request him to help me retrieve the legitimate property which I was forced to give up under coercion by Sasikala,” he has said.
Earlier, a fortnight ago, Jones had told the media that he had not given his fight to retrieve the family-owned estate which was snatched away from him. The estate was established in 1864 during colonial rule. The Jones family acquired it from a business family. “When Jayalalithaa and Sasikala set their eyed on Kodanad, our family received constant harassment to part with it and was sold for Rs 7.5 crore. The balance amount was never paid to us. Besides AIADMK ministers and top officials, business tycoon Rajarathinam, close to the AIADMK, had played a major role in this. Without our presence, at the registrar office, the transaction was completed. For the change of ownership, my father and myself signed the documents at the residence of liquor baron Udayar in Chennai,” Jones had said adding that he was ready to compensate Sasikala to reacquire the estate.
Already caught in a web of I-T cases, this development is expected to keep her at bay from attempting to capture the AIADMK, opine analysts. The state police launching a fresh investigation into the 2017 heist and murder at Kodanad estate has rattled not only the AIADMK leadership including former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy. A cloud of suspicion is also on Sasikala, the owner along with Jayalalithaa. In these circumstances, it remains to be seen whether she is able to make a political re-entry.
