Famous personalities who were jailed in 2017

As the year comes to a close, below are the most famous personalities who had to go to jail in 2017

File image of Gurmeet Ram Rahim/ PTI IMAGE

Ram Rahim: Self proclaimed godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim was awarded 20 years in jail by a special CBI court after he was convicted of raping two women in his Dera. Ram Rahim’s conviction was followed by massive violence in Punjab and Haryana, as Dera followers torched several houses and attacked media personnel. The incident claimed around 32 lives. The quantum of punishment to Ram Rahim was announced on August 28. Sasikala: VK Sasikala, who was the general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was jailed on February 14, 2017 after a two-bench Supreme Court jury pronounced her guilty and ordered her immediate arrest in a disproportionate-assets case. The same ended her Sasikala’s Chief Ministerial ambitions after the demise of Jayalithaa. Sasikala was considered as a very close aide of Amma, and only days before her arrest that is on 5 February 2017, she was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by a meeting of all the MLAs in the party. Malyalam actor Dileep: The Malyalam superstar was jailed for ‘assaulting’ another actor, and was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including criminal conspiracy. He has been lodged in a jail in his hometown of Aluva since his arrest on July 10 in connection with the case. The 31-year-old actor was returning from a film shoot on February 17 when she was allegedly abducted by a gang of criminals and sexually assaulted in a moving car in Kochi. The assailants allegedly recorded the assault on their mobile phones and threatened to release the clip if she dared to approach the police. During the attack, the main accused – Pulsar Suni – allegedly hinted they were committing the crime at somebody else’s behest. He was later released on bail on Oct 13. T.T.V Dinakaran: The Delhi police Crime Branch late on Tuesday arrested AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran in connection with an alleged attempt to bribe Election Commission officials to secure the ‘two leaves’ symbol for his faction on April 26. He was said to have made the attempt through middleman Sukesh Chandrashekhar. Dinakaran was later released on bail on July1. Justice Karnan: Karnan was arrested from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on June 20 after he evaded the police for over a month. Karnan, who had enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016. He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations against and run-ins with the then chief justice and fellow judges of the court. Karnan was released on bail on December 20, 2017 after spending around 6 months in jail.