Gangster Ankit Gujjar death: CBI chargesheets Tihar jail official with culpable homicide

NEW DELHI: The CBI has charged deputy superintendent of Tihar prison, Narender Meena with culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the death of gangster Ankit Gujjar in the prison last year, officials said on Monday.
The agency had arrested Meena in May this year which was followed by arrests of five more Tihar prison officials.
Assistant Superintendent Deepak Dabas and Head Warder Dinesh Chikara were taken into custody on July 27, while another Assistant Superintendent Ram Avtar Meena and warders Harphool Meena and Vinod Meena were arrested on August 3.
All the six accused are in judicial custody now, they said.
In its charge sheet filed before a special CBI court, the agency has said that the investigation against Narender Meena, charge sheeted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) is complete while against remaining officials it is going on, they said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has already received the sanction to prosecute Meena and the special court has been intimated about it, they said.
The agency will soon file supplementary charge sheet against the remaining five arrested accused, they said.
Gujjar (29), who was lodged in prison number three of Tihar facing charges of multiple murders, was found dead on August 4, 2021, they said.
The CBI has alleged that the Gujjar was assaulted by six prison officials in a planned manner.
The agency has alleged that Gujjar was greasing the palms of Tihar officials through different sources to avail facilities like cell phone, but the relationship turned sour after stories of Narender Meena's corruption started floating in the prison, they said.
Meena had demanded Rs 5 lakh from Gujjar for using cell phone which was brought down to around Rs 2.25 lakh of which Rs 2 lakh was handed over to a head warder by Gujjar's associate, the agency has alleged.
Gujjar developed friendship with Rohit Chaudhary, another alleged gangster lodged in Tihar prison, who asked him to not shell out such a huge amount for such small favours like use of cell phone.
Backed by Chaudhary, Gujjar refused to pay remaining Rs 25,000 to Narender Meena which resulted in increased harassment of the undertrial, the agency has alleged.
The denial of money angered Narender Meena who started to plot for an appropriate time to take out revenge on Gujjar.
Meena allegedly got the opportunity when on August 3, 2021, a CCTV technician found a cellphone hidden near ward 5A where Gujjar was lodged.
Gujjar, who had gone to Jhajjar to attend a court hearing returned at around 6.30 pm when he was informed that he is being shifted to another prison where his rival was also lodged, but he refused to be transferred, they said.
Meena then went to his cell where Gujjar confronted him about his demands of money when both entered in a fist fight.
Enraged over being beaten by a prisoner, Meena assembled jail personnel outside the ward of Gujjar who was lodged along with Gurjeet and Gurpreet.
Six jail personnel started mercilessly beating Gujjar, Gurjeet and Gurpreet with polycarbonate lathis, they said, adding that CBI has collected DNA samples from lathis and positively matched them with that of Gujjar, they said.
After nearly half an hour of assault, Gujjar and two others were carried to ward 1A where he was kept alone in the absence of proper medical aid, they said.
Next morning, his name was called but he did not respond, they said. Gujjar was taken to hospital where he was declared dead, it said.