The Income Tax Department has confiscated eleven properties held by ousted AIADMK leader VK Sasikala, according to reports. The homes, which span 24 acres in Tamil Nadu’s Payanoor hamlet, were purportedly purchased between 1991 and 1996, while Jayalalithaa was Chief Minister.
These 11 properties are listed as “disproportionate assets” of Jayalalithaa, her close aide Sasikala, and Sasikala’s relatives – Ilavarasi and Sudhakaran – in a 2014 ruling by former Karnataka Special Court Judge John Michael Cunha.
While the houses may have cost approximately 20 lakh when purchased in the 1990s, the current value is believed to be close to 100 crores.
Based on the 2014 court judgment, the tax department has attached the properties under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, sources said.
The state’s Land Registration Department has been informed, and attachment notices have been put outside the properties, officials added.
VK Sasikala can continue to use these properties but she cannot carry out any transaction.
The 67-year-old leader was released earlier this year after serving a four-year jail term in a corruption case.
She returned from Bengaluru to a grand welcome by her supporters.
She had taken over as AIADMK chief soon after Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, and made an abortive attempt at taking the post of Chief Minister when she was convicted for corruption by the Supreme Court in a case in which Jayalalithaa was also accused. She was also expelled from the AIADMK.
Ahead of the April-May state elections in Tamil Nadu, she had declared that she was “staying away from politics”.
VK Sasikala recently met former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to condole the death of his wife. It was their first meeting in four years after OPS had rebelled against her.
