EOW: Need to probe 82 staff at Rohini jail who helped Sukesh, took crores from him

Police have claimed that Sukesh paid around Rs 25-30 crore to jail staff to secure an entire barrack for himself.
In a letter to DG (Tihar) Sandeep Goel on January 10, DCP (EOW) Mohammad Ali said a case, dated August 7, 2021, had been registered under sections of the IPC, IT Act and MCOCA at the Special Cell police station on the complaint of Aditi Singh.

“During investigation conducted so far, seven jail officials – two jail superintendents Sunil Kumar, Sunder Bora, deputy jail superintendents Prakash Chand, Mahender Prasad Sundriyal, Subhash Batra and two assistant superintendent Dharam Singh Meena and Lakshmi Dutt — have been arrested in the case as they were found involved in facilitating the organised crime syndicate run by kingpin Sukesh, operating from barrack no 204, ward no 3, jail no 10 in Rohini,” DCP Ali wrote.

The letter subject mentioned the proposal for granting approval under Section 17 (A) of PoC Act against jail officials of Rohini jail No. 10 for conducting enquiry/investigation.

Ali said CCTV footage from 10 cameras installed in the Rohini jail for the period July 14 to August 14, 2021 was collected and these covered Ward No. 3 and Barrack No. 204 where Sukesh was lodged.

“It was found that the vision of CCTV cameras installed in the barrack of Sukesh was completely blocked by using curtains and putting mineral water bottles box in front of the camera,” Ali wrote.

“No action was taken to remove the object from the view of camera and for this facilitation, jail officials got hefty amount out of the crime proceeds from Sukesh and his associates. Entries made in the CCTV register by the warder Neeraj Maan, deployed at CCTV control room at Rohini jail, in this regard, were not only ignored rather warder Neeraj Maan was put under pressure and discouraged from making such entries by senior jail officials. This clearly established that the staff, including senior officers in Rohini jail no 10, connived with Sukesh and facilitated him to carry out his criminal activities from inside the jail, a safe haven for Sukesh,” he said.

“From checking of duty roster of prison staff and statements of accused persons, it came out that the staff was deployed in the barrack of Sukesh in consultation with Sukesh in order to facilitate him to carry out his criminal activities. From analysis of call details record (CDRs) and Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDRs) of phone seized, it was noticed that Sukesh was continuously in possession of two mobile phones,” he said.

From the data retrieved from the phone of Dharam Singh Meena, one of the assistant superintendents, a “one-page record was retrieved which was explained by him during interrogation and made it clear that jail officers were getting huge amount of money on regular basis. Sukesh used to pay around Rs 1.5 crore every month for getting facilities to use mobile phone and separate barrack without any hindrance,” he wrote.

According to Ali, “from the statements of arrested jail officials and documents, facts and evidences collected during investigation, it has come out that money was paid to all the staff, irrespective of their duties, as bribe to ensure that they keep themselves away from spilling beans and remain silent”.
DG (Tihar) Sandeep Goel declined to comment on DCP Ali’s letter.

So far, 14 persons, including actor Leena Maria Paul, partner of Sukesh, have been chargesheeted in the case.