Bangalore:
The city's Central Jail has turned into a fortress, not because former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is lodged there, but to facilitate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's appearance in a court in the complex today.
Around 1,000 police personnel, headed by a Joint Commissioner of Police, are on duty around the jail complex in the eastern suburb of Parappana Agrahara where a Bangalore court is holding a special sitting to record Jayalalithaa's statement in a corruption case against her.
"We have imposed prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons in a 500 metre radius of the jail complex from late Wednesday till the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister leaves for Chennai on Thursday," a Bangalore city police spokesperson said.
Jayalalithaa is to give her statement in the over a decade-old case in which she is charged with amassing Rs 66 crore between 1991 and 1996 when she was chief minister of Tamil Nadu.
This will be the first appearance of Jayalalithaa in the Bangalore court to which the case was shifted from Chennai in November 2003 to ensure free and fair trial.
Her last minute bid to get exemption from personal appearance citing security concerns or to change the venue of the court sitting failed Wednesday with the Supreme Court rejecting her plea and directing her to appear Thursday.
Following a decision by the Supreme Court, the special court judge BM Mallikarjunaiah, who is hearing the disproportionate assets case, also directed Jayalalithaa to appear before him on Thursday.
He also rejected her plea to shift the venue of his sitting from the jail complex to the premises of a flying school as that was closer to the Bangalore International Airport, about 35 km from city centre.
The Parappana Agrahara is about 60 km from the international airport.