AIADMK leader Sasikala granted 5 days parole to visit ailing husband

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader VK Sasikala was granted a five-day parole on Friday by authorities to meet her ailing husband, who recently underwent a dual organ transplant in Chennai.

Sasikala had reportedly submitted an emergency parole form on Thursday, along with a medical certificate of her husband M Natarajan. A parole application filed by Sasikala on October 3 was initially rejected on the grounds of insufficient documentation.

The AIADMK leader has been serving a prison sentence in Bengaluru's central prison since February. The Supreme Court had, earlier this year, upheld her conviction by a special court in a disproportionate assets case.

Sasikala's relatives Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran have also been sentenced to four-year jail terms in the case.

Suspicious organ donation

Sasikala's 74-year-old husband Natarajan, a chronic liver disease patient, underwent a seven-and-a-half-hour kidney and liver transplant surgery, which began late on Tuesday. However, how the donor organs were procured has raised speculations.

Natarajan was put on a wait list for the transplant since April. Global Hospitals, in September, said that his condition had worsened and he required a dual organ transplant.

The authorisation committee approved Global Hospitals for conducting live donor transplants for Natarajan, however, the live donor transplant was subsequently not conducted. The hospital doctors have reportedly refused to comment on why the transplant was not done.

Natarajan then underwent a dual organ transplant from a cadaver donation on Tuesday, October 3. 

Reports state that the organs came from a 19-year-old daily wage earner who was admitted to a government hospital in Thanjavur with severe head injuries and a long bone fracture.

What seems suspicious in the narrative is that the teenager was flown to Chennai by a private air ambulance after the family discharged him from the hospital.

Doctors account which stated that the patient was discharged from the Thanjavur hospital "against medical advice" adds to the suspicion.

"Karthik, a young gentleman from Thanjavur, was admitted at the local hospital on Sept 30 with severe head injuries and associated injuries like long bone fracture. The doctors at the hospital apprised the family of his poor outcome. Against the medical advice, the family decided to move him to a private hospital for second opinion and specialised care," the statement read.

The statement, however, did not explain how the family of a daily wage labourer could have afforded a private air ambulance.

"How was a young man from a poor family taken to a global hospital. Who funded this? This needs to be investigated," state BJP president Tamilisai Soundararjan said, raising suspicions on the circumstances of the donation.

Natarajan's health condition appears to be improving, his condition is stable and the transplanted liver and kidney seem to be adapting well to his body, the Global Hospitals said in a statement.