Imran Khan confuses Jayalalithaa with Sasikala, later deletes tweet

In what seems as an embarrassing goof-up, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan on Tuesday mixed the name of late Indian actress turned politician J.Jayalalithaa with her close aide Sasikala, who is currently serving jail term. Imran, in his tweet, had wrongly stated that Indian politician Sasikala died recently, whereas she is still alive.

"Shashikala, a famous South Indian actress turned politician in India's Tamil Nadu died recently & below her house were discovered gold reserves, jewels & illegal stash of money! A msg to all corrupt Idrs: the hoarded bns stolen from our impoverished masses will be left behind," Imran said in now deleted tweet. However, after this gaffe was caught by a Gulf News journalist Sadiq S Bhat, Imran promptly deleted his tweet.

"Dear @ImranKhanPTI you got it completely wrong. Sasikala is in jail. Her friend Jayalalitha, ex-CM of Tamil Nadu, died late last year and those pictures are obviously fake. One expects better from a senior politician like you," Bhat tweeted along with screenshot of Imran's tweet.

Dear @ImranKhanPTI you got it completely wrong. Sasikala is in jail. Her friend Jayalalitha, ex-CM of Tamil Nadu, died late last year and those pictures are obviously fake. One expects better from a senior politician like you. pic.twitter.com/6arkmZBYVD

— Sadiq S Bhat (@sadiquiz) December 19, 2017

The pictures, which Imran had posted, were reportedly fake and had been taken from bank robberies in two different places in India. The Supreme Court of India found Sasikala and her co-accused ' Ilavarasi (her sister-in-law) and V. N. Sudhakaran (her nephew) guilty of conspiring, laundering and amassing illicit wealth worth about Rs. 66.44 crore in the 1990s in a criminal conspiracy with Jayalalithaa. The three have been sentenced to a four-year jail term by the apex court.

Sasikala is currently serving her jail term. She was a close aide of J. Jayalalithaa, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who headed AIADMK from 1989 until her death in 2016. After Jayalalithaa's death, the party's general council unanimously appointed her as the interim secretary general of AIADMK. Sasikala was removed from the AIADMK after the factions led by Chief Minister Palanisamy and now Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, joined hands.