A week after a 28-year-old criminal was found dead inside Tihar jail, police have registered a murder case and four employees of the jail have been suspended.
On August 4, Ankit Gujjar, a Baghpat-based criminal, was found unconscious in his cell and two others – twin brothers – were injured.
In her complaint to the police, Ankit’s mother Geeta Devi alleged that a Deputy Superintendent was demanding ₹1 lakh as protection money and they had arranged ₹50,000 to pay him. Half the amount was still left, due to which the DS and his staffers were allegedly troubling Ankit.
The family made a PCR call on the night of August 3 stating that Ankit was beaten up by jail staffers and is not being taken for treatment.
The police said an official went to Tihar and was informed that while searching Ankit’s cell, a phone, data cable and a knife were recovered.
Manhandling staffers
Police said they received another call from the family on August 4 raising similar concerns. The official went again and was informed that Ankit and the twin brothers were to be shifted to different cells but they refused to leave their cell and started manhandling the employees, who allegedly told the police that “minimum force” was used to contain the three.
However, a post-mortem report, which was received on Sunday, stated that the cause of death is “haemorrhage consequent upon cumulative effect of multiple blunt force injuries”. A murder case was then registered. Tihar officials said that four officials including the DS and a warder have been suspended.
