The Mannargudi Mafia Family Tree

Ever since J Jayalalithaa has died, Sasikala and her entire family are all over the news.

'Chinnamma' Sasikala is slowly following the path of her long-time best friend late Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Jayalalithaa and has become the legislative head of ADMK.


As she plans to become the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu, some are criticizing her involvement in so-called "Mannargudi Mafia" group.

Sasikala Natarajan hails from a small town in Thiruvarur district in Cauvery delta.

"Mannargudi Mafia" is a term to describe the clique which consist her immediate relatives that had a supreme influence on the first term of J Jayalalithaa as CM.

From the head of the Jaya TV to the top administrative roles - it is said that Sasikala and her relatives have spread across the machinery.

"Mannargudi Mafia" allegedly holds the most important posts in the government and takes the full advantage of Sasikala's proximity to Jayalalithaa.

Sashikala was married to M Natarajan, who worked as a public relations officer in the state government.

She had a video recording company and became close to Jayalaithaa while recording ADMK party functions.

Sasikala started visiting Jaya's house in Poes Garden, to give video cassettes.

When Jayalalithaa became chief minister in 1991, Sasikala moved into her Poes Gardens residence.

In 2011, Jayalaithaa expelled Sasikala and her kin from the party and Poes Garden residence.

Both of them were arrested in the disproportionate assets case and were convicted by a trial court in Bengaluru.

However, Sasikala was constantly there with Jaya during her final battle in Apollo Hospital.

V Dhivakaran, Sasikala's brother is one of the most influential people in Delta region.

He runs the all-girls Sengamla Thayaar Educational Trust Women's College. He owns a massive property opposite the STET College at Sundarakottai near Mannargudi town.

All thanks to her sister's closeness to Amma.

Dhinakaran, Sudhakaran and Bhaskaran - famously known as TTV brothers are also the integral part of famous Mannargudi mafia. In 1995, Jayalalithaa was in the news for Sudhakaran's grand wedding with Sivaji Ganesan's granddaughter which was popularly known as "mother of all weddings".

The record notes that over 1,50,000 guests were invited. The I-T Dept estimated the wedding cost at Rs 10 crore.

Sudhakaran was later disowned by Amma when she lost the election in 1996 due to corruption charges.

TV Mahadevan, who is the son of Sasikala's late brother Dr Vinodagan is powerful in the Trichy region. Her nephew Vivek is an emerging face in Tamil Nadu politics.

Courtesy: Economic  Times