Ex-MLA convicted in anti-Sikh riots case dies of COVID-19 in Mandoli jail

Mahender Yadav shared the barrack with Kanwar Singh, another inmate who succumbed to the infection last month

A former Congress MLA serving a 10-year jail term in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case died due to COVID-19 at a hospital here, the second inmate of Mandoli prison to have succumbed to the infection, officials said on Sunday.

Mahender Yadav, 70, was was a former MLA from Palam constituency. He was lodged in jail number 14, the same barrack where Kanwar Singh, another convict who died last month of COVID-19, was kept.

Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said Yadav complained of uneasiness and heart-related issues on June 26. He was taken to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, from where he was referred to Lok Nayak Hospital the same day. Later, on his family’s request, he was allowed to be shifted under police guard to a private hospital in Dwarka on June 30.

“We received information that Mahender Yadav expired in Akash hospital on July 4 evening,” said Mr. Goel.

Yadav was lodged in jail since December 31, 2018. His son and Delhi Congress leader Raghuvindra Yadav alleged that the jail authorities did not take care of his father and did not inform the family about his admission to hospital after he tested positive for COVID-19.

The jail authorities, however, denied the allegations and said they had informed Yadav’s family over the phone on June 26 evening, when he was admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital.

On July 1, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea for interim bail for Yadav on the grounds that he has been admitted to the ICU after testing positive for COVID-19.

Prisoner Kanwar Singh had died in his sleep on June 15. His COVID-19 test later turned out to be positive, said officials.

Following his death, 29 others, who shared the barrack with him, including Yadav, were also tested for the novel coronavirus. Out of them, 17 tested positive on June 20, they said.

After five days, all the 12 inmates who had tested negative earlier were tested again for the infection as a precautionary measure, considering their age, said a senior jail official.

Among them, three, including Yadav, tested positive for the virus on June 26, and the same day the former MLA was shifted to a hospital after he complained of uneasiness, he said.