Chennai: The ‘gun protocol’ denied V.K.Sasikala the comfort of air travel to Chennai while forcing her to take the road instead, sources said. They said tickets had been booked for Sasikala, nephew TTV Dhinakaran and four others to fly on Jet Airways leaving Bengaluru at 4.10 pm and arriving at Chennai at 5.20 pm. The booking was made at Bengaluru at 11.40 am.
When the Tamil Nadu police and the officers at the airport got the alert about this, arrangement were quickly made to ensure that Chinnamma's arrival did not disrupt the smooth movement of other passengers in the terminal-— Entrance Three, normally used by VIPs — to enter and exit the terminal without causing hassles to the public and other passengers, was prepared. “Even while making these arrangements, we nursed the doubt how she would be allowed to fly since she is a convict being released on parole. She would have to be accompanied by armed escorts and their weapons would not be allowed into the aircraft”, said an official in the airport security requesting anonymity.
He explained that anyone carrying a weapon,even with official sanction, would have hand it over to the airport security staff, who will subject it to thorough check and put it in a bag that would be sealed. This bag would be handed over to the aircraft crew for safe keeping during the flight. The passenger would be given a receipt for the weapon, which he/she could show to the crew and collect the 'sealed' weapon on arrival at the final destination.
After the long procedure was explained to Dhinakaran, he conveyed it to aunt Sasikala when she emerged from the prison and the decision to cancel the air tickets and take the road to Chennai was taken. “She was coming on parole of only five days and she did not want to waste time on this gun protocol”, said the official earlier quoted.
