(This story originally appeared in on Feb 14, 2017)

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala , who was convicted in disproportionate asset case, left Golden Bay Beach resort by 9.40pm on Tuesday for Chennai. She is likely to surrender before a Bangalore court on Wedneday.Earlier in the day police took control of resort as soon as the Supreme Court upheld conviction of Sasikala and two others. A majority of police force left around 8pm after they failed to convince the MLAs camping there since February 8 to vacate the resort.There was power supply disruption in the area leading to speculation that police disconnected the power supply to force the MLAs to leave the resort. Power supply was restored within a few minutes. An AIADMK party man assaulted TOI photographer R Ramesh Shankar, and mediapersons staged a protest.Earlier, a police team led by inspector general of police (north zone) N Senthamarai Kannan that entered the resort held discussions with Sasikala, ministers and MLAs urging them to vacate the resort in batches. Superintendents of police Mutharasi (Kancheepuram), Vijayakumar (Cuddalore) and P Pakalavan (Vellore) accompanied Senthamarai Kannan while IGP (homeguards) K Periaiah and IGP Varadaraju kept guard in the presence of two teams of striking force outside the resort.Police sources said a few ministers and MLAs were reluctant to move out and threatened that they would stage a dharna if they were forcibly sent out of the resort. Pro-Sasikala ministers and legislators came in batches and repeatedly told journalists that they had been staying together voluntarily since Wednesday night.However, they didn’t answer journalists’ queries on several issues including the number of MLAs staying in the resort and charges levelled by Madurai (South) MLA S S Saravanan after escaping from the resort in disguise. They decided to stay in the resort until Governor invites their new legislature party leader Eddapadi K Palanisamy to form the government.Police arrested six people on charges of illegal entry into the resort while more than a dozen of 'private guards' who have been intimidating journalists went missing. The district administration has clamped Section 144 in the areas coming under the jurisdiction of Koovathur police station.