India, July 17 -- Eleven persons, including an assistant superintendent, six jail warders, two advocates and two others, have been arrested for allegedly running a bribery racket inside Delhi prisons, an Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) official said on Thursday. The accused allegedly coerced families of undertrial prisoners to pay money for their safety, protection, preferential treatment and other unauthorised facilities inside jails, the official said. According to an official statement, a case was registered on February 9 this year after ACB received a complaint from a man alleging that he was being forced to make regular payments for the "safety" and "comfort" of his father and brother, lodged as undertrials in Rohini Jail.
Based on the complaint, the ACB registered an FIR. Subsequently, a team was formed to investigate the allegations, which laid a trap to nab the accused. "During the operation, officials allegedly caught members of the syndicate accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh," joint commissioner of police and ACB chief Vikramjit Singh said in the statement. The agency initially arrested six persons -- warders Dinesh Dabas, Pankaj Kumar and Ravi Kumar, all posted at Rohini Jail; Jogender, a head warder posted at Tihar Jail; advocate Manish of Faridabad and Ashish Rana, a private person from Delhi, the statement said.
During the investigation, the ACB uncovered a larger criminal conspiracy involving jail officials, inmates, advocates and private persons operating as an organised syndicate. "Teams analysed bank accounts, financial transactions, digital evidence and mobile phone data, which revealed that illegal payments collected from families of prisoners were routed through multiple bank accounts before being withdrawn in cash and distributed among members of the network," the statement read. Based on the evidence, the ACB arrested five more accused -- Sunil Kumar, an assistant superintendent posted at Rohini Jail; Yogesh, a head warder at Rohini Jail; Jagbir, a warder at Rohini Jail; Harender Bansal, an advocate from Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat; and Viplove Khari, a private person from Delhi. "With these arrests, the total number of accused held in the case has risen to 11. The arrested persons comprise one assistant superintendent, six jail warders, two advocates and two private persons," the statement read. The ACB said further investigation is underway to identify other persons linked with the alleged network, trace the complete money trail and ascertain the full extent of the conspiracy.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.