Chennai : Jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala is likely to get parole from Parapparana Agrahara jail to attend her husband M Natarajan’s funeral, according to official sources in Bangalore.

Natarajan passed away at a private hospital in Chennai at 1.35 a.m Monday night. His body, at present kept at Beasant Nagar house, would be taken to Vilar village in Thanjavur for final rites. He was admitted to the hospital on March 16 with complaint of chest congestion and was kept on ventilator.

A press statement issued by the Gleneagles Global Health City hospital said, “It is with profound grief and sorrow that we announce the sad demise of Mr Natarajan Maruthappa at 1.35 a.m today (March 30, 2018).”

“Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain his revival. However, despite our best efforts he was unable to recover,” the hospital statement said.

Sasikala’s rise from a small-time video cassette shop owner into the power corridors in Tamil Nadu, or rather in life and times of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, is entirely due to her shrewd husband Natarajan, who was a government public relations officer with political acumen and ambitions.

A quiet backroom operator in AIADMK politics, he used to wield considerable clout as the husband of Sasikala who became a friend and companion of Jayalalithaa and was living with her in Poes Garden residence.

Natarjan, who has had a lever transplant and several complications has been in and out of hospital for the past one year or so.