ollowing bitter trading of charges between Delhi Police and Tihar jail authorities over the murder of two undertrials inside a prison van, the police have alleged that jail officials have been ignoring the set norms of seeking the Third Battalion’s assistance in transferring prisoners from one jail to another.
Days after two high-risk prisoners were killed by a rival gang inside a prison van while being taken back from Rohini Court to Tihar jail, Delhi Police sources said the prison authorities ignored the procedure for transferring prisoners from one place to another.
On Thursday evening, six high-risk prisoners were shifted from one jail to another within the jail premises without taking the help of Delhi Police’s Third Battalion, said sources. The police said it is mandatory for the Tihar administration to not just inform, but also take the help of the Third Battalion while transferring prisoners from one prison to another within Asia’s largest jail.
“The six prisoners included Satpal Singh Bedi, who had murdered an undertrial two weeks ago. He was transferred from jail number eight to three. The Tihar officials did not even inform the Third Battalion,” added a source.
The jail administration and the Third Battalion are involved in a slugfest, blaming each other for a major security lapse that resulted in an ugly fight between members of the two rival gangs inside the jail van.
Tihar officials, however, denied conducting any such “secret transfers”.
“Satpal Singh Bedi was transferred by a Delhi Police vehicle in the evening,” claimed a senior jail official. The official said the prerogative of seeking police’s help lie with the jail administration and is “not mandatory”.
“We don’t need to seek police’s help in transfers between two inter-connected jails,” said the official.
“They have always sought our assistance even for transfers between jails separated by a wall. We were called to transfer even Sahara chief Subrata Roy from one jail to another a few weeks ago,” said a senior police officer.
Meanwhile, Tihar authorities hit back at the police for “spreading falsehood” and sharing “malicious information not based on facts”. They alleged that the Third Battalion has for long been rejecting proposals from prisoners and orders from court for providing separate prison vans for several high-risk prisoners.
“There have been several such instances in the past few months,” said a senior jail official on Thursday.
The jail official further alleged that in a letter from the Third Battalion to the prison authorities in June, the battalion officers had refused to allot a separate van to Neeraj Bawana, claiming there was no threat to him.
“Had Neeraj Bawana been provided a separate van, the double murder could have been avoided,” they said.
“A lot of the prisoners place the request as it is a status symbol among them. It is the duty of the jail staff to analyse the threats to such prisoners before forwarding the request to us. Instead they mechanically forward every request to us,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Third Battalion) Shivendra Kant Tewari told The Hindu .
He claimed that their assessment of Neeraj Bawana did not suggest there was any threat to him.
“The incident proved he was a threat to others. Tihar authorities did not communicate that to us,” said Mr. Tewari.
Had Neeraj Bawana been provided a separate van, the double murder could have been avoided
