Bangalore: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, who was convicted by a special court here on September 27 in the disproportionate assets case, was shifted to a different cell inside Central Prisons at Parappana Agrahara on Thursday.

“She was moved from the cell on ground floor to another cell on the first floor. The decision to shift her was taken based on her request,” a prisons officer said.

She wanted to be alone and take some rest. She informed the prisons authorities about her choice. The decision was taken immediately and she was shifted to the first-floor cell. The room in the first floor is said to have a television set and an air cooler, sources said.

Meanwhile, the prisons’ top authorities clarified that Jayalalitha was being treated like any other prisoner. “We are not extending any VIP treatment to Jayalalitha,” DIG (Prisons) Jayasimha told reporters.

While participating in the Clean India Campaign at the Prisons, the DIG said that the authorities considered her as an ordinary prisoner and the facilities given to an ordinary prisoner have been given to her, he added.

Another officer claimed that nobody from outside had been permitted to take food, prepared elsewhere, for Jayalalitha. She is consuming the food prepared in the prisons’ kitchen. She had brought some clothes along with her when she came to prisons and is using them. She is not wearing the white sarees, he said.

She has not met anybody since September 27. She is sending messages only through her close aide and fellow convict Saskikala, he added.