Delhi Jail Inmates Strangle Fellow Prisoner To Death For Not Sharing Rooh Afza With Them

There was mayhem in Tihar Jail¡¯s Rohini campus on Monday night when some inmates first thrashed and then strangled a fellow prisoner to death. Pawan Kumar died in a brawl that started after he refused to serve rooh afza to the leader of a group of convicts.

The incident comes within a week of Delhi high court directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the assault on and physical torture of several prisoners lodged in Tihar Jail.

Kishan, an accused in a case of murder and in jail since 2013, was incensed by Kumar¡¯s refusal to recognise his supremacy in jail and do as he ordered. Kumar had only recently entered the jail after being arrested for theft and then remanded in judicial custody.

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¡°We received information about the death of Kumar from Ambedkar Hospital. In our investigation, we found Kumar, an under-trail inmate, was ordered by Kishan to bring him something on Monday night. When Kumar refused to do so, Kishan strangulated him to death,¡± said Rajneesh Gupta, DCP (Rohini).

An FIR has been registered against Kishan for murder (Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code).

When contacted, a Tihar Jail spokesperson said that the incident took place around 2.45am when the accused punched the victim on his stomach for not serving him a glass of Roof Afza as ordered. ¡°The situation was immediately controlled by the warden,¡± the jail official claimed. ¡°The victim was taken to the hospital, where he died during treatment.¡±

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Kumar¡¯s family alleged that he was cornered and beaten up. ¡°There were marks on his hand, legs and neck as if he had been restrained by others while being strangled. He was in jail for the past three months,¡± said the victim¡¯s brother, Vishnu.

The central jail has seen some violence in the past few months and the high court had had to intervene to keep things in order.

The case of prisoners being tortured in jail had made news in November and the high court had set up a committee for investigation, which eventually recommended the filing of FIR against some prison officials.

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Instances of extortion rackets being run from jail are also becoming increasingly evident. According to police, two convicts lodged in the jail, Danish and Asif, were recently discovered to be making extortion demands from within the prison premises.

Before that, there was the controversy over the escape of a crime syndicate member. The high-risk convict, Sandeep Dhillu, was freed by friends when he was being taken to hospital in a private can rather than a jail vehicle or ambulance. The associates of Dhillu, who too had been running an extortion racket from jail, opened fire at the security personnel to facilitate his escape.