Click to play videoNew Delhi: It’s considered India's best prison and one of the best in Asia too but in Delhi's Tihar jail, prisoners are allegedly battling an extortion racket.
A letter written by Delhi’s Tihar jail inmates to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and the Patiala House Court alleges 26 inmates are being attacked for refusing to “pay up” a rival gang.
The letter also alleged jail officials are hand in glove with the extortionists. The “victims” include Tariq Ahmed Dar, charged with plotting to kill hundreds during the 2005 Delhi Diwali blast and Fazlur Rehman, A mafia don accused of murder, extortion and kidnapping.
"Satender Pal Singh and his henchman Sheru are attacking them with iron rods and blades. They are scared,” says the complainants’ lawyer S Khan.
The jail authorities have refuted allegations of extortion but have accepted that blade attacks are a reality. In fact they have decided to shift one of the “attackers” to the Rohini jail while permission has been sought from the district judge to allow him to be always kept in fetters (chained and handcuffed.)
If it was a spate of deaths in Tihar jail that forced the High Court to take notice last year, it’s these threats to some of the most high- profile prisoners in the jail that’s forced the judiciary to intervene yet again. .
The court will decide on the matter on May 12.
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