Sasikala Convicted: MLA, who escaped Golden Bay resort, files kidnapping charge against Sasikala, Palanisamy

Sasikala Natarajan, who was convicted by the Supreme Court in the disproportionate assets case, now faces a kidnapping charge. The current AIADMK Legislature Party leader, Edappadi Palanisamy, is also a co-accused in the case.

MLA SS Saravanan filed an FIR with the Koovathur Police against Sasikala and Palanisamy accusing them of kidnapping the AIADMK MLAs after having had a dramatic escape from the Golden Bay Resort where the MLAs backing Sasikala were lodged for a week. He claimed, at a press conference on Monday (Feb 13) at the residence of outgoing chief minister O Panneerselvam that he managed to escape the resort by disguising himself in a T-shirt and "Bermuda shorts". The resort is located within the limits of the Koovathur police station.

A large contingent of commandos wearing riot gear moved into the Golden Bay Resort soon as a precautionary measure after the complaint was filed. The MLAs, who were lodged at the resort, will also be required to give individual statements to the police, according to local media reports. They continued to stay in the resort even after Sasikala left the resort on Tuesday (Feb 14) night to surrender before the Bengaluru court.

"The police questioned us and asked if we had forcibly made MLA Saravanan stay at the resort. We showed the cops the room he stayed in. His claims are not true," lawmaker IS Inbadurai told NDTV accusing Saravanan of going to the police as an afterthought to create political instability. He also said that Saravanan had denied that he was being forced to stay at the resort when the police questioned all the MLAs in order to submit a report to the court.

Panneerselvam had been consistently saying that the MLAs were being forcefully held at the resort threatened by Sasikala and her supporters. But the affidavit filed by the police at the Madras High Court had stated that they were staying at the resort by their own free will.

The Kancheepuram district collector had also imposed restrictions under CrPC section 144 in the village of Koovathur on Tuesday. Heavy police deployment was seen inside and around the resort as well but was withdrawn in the night.

The police have registered an FIR against Sasikala and Palanisamy under sections 366 (kidnapping) and 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.