By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Prisons Department on Tuesday said departmental action will be taken against two deputy superintendents and seven other officials in connection with the death of Tihar Jail inmate Ankit Gujjar after an inquiry found negligence on their part.
Two assistant superintendents, three head warders and two warders are also among the nine prison officials who will face action, the department said.
A departmental inquiry into the death of Gujjar had found negligence on the part of certain prison staffers.
The inquiry was conducted by the DIG prisons.
“Departmental action will be taken against nine personnel who were found negligent in the DIG inquiry.
Out of them, four have already been suspended,” Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said.
A report about the negligent conduct of jail doctors will be sent to the health department of the Delhi government, officials said.
Gujjar was found dead inside his cell in Tihar jail while two of his former cellmates, who were lodged in an adjacent lockup, were found injured on August 4.
In a petition filed through advocates Mehmood Pracha and Shariq Nisar, the family has alleged that Gujjar was being harassed by jail officials as he was “unable to meet their regularly increasing demands for money” and was murdered “as a part of pre-planned conspiracy”.
The Delhi High Court had observed that the nature of injuries sustained by inmate Gujjar clearly show that it was a case of custodial violence.
The initial police investigation had found that security personnel allegedly assaulted Gujjar after the gangster slapped a deputy superintendent.
Gujjar was involved in several criminal cases.
He had allegedly killed a BJP leader.
Tihar officials had earlier said the three inmates were lodged in the same cell till August 3 night when they had a fight with the jail staff after a mobile phone was found from outside their cell.
The jail staff then shifted Gujjar to another cell from where his body was recovered the next morning, they had said.
Following the incident, four jail officials, including the deputy superintendent, were suspended for alleged negligence and eight others were shifted from Central Jail No. 3.
The Delhi Police Special Cell had arrested a 28-year-old man, Satender alias Satte, who was allegedly planning to “harm” a senior jail official to avenge Gujjar’s death.
Satte had asked his associate to procure an AK-47 rifle to eliminate a deputy superintendent of Tihar Jail, the audio of which later went viral.
