Cash-for-beds in prison: Devendra Fadnavis orders probe

Hours after middayrsquos expose on Thursday Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered an investigation into an undertrialrsquos allegations of prison cops extorting lakhs from inmates for a comfortable sleeping space at Arthur Road jail ldquoThe additional director general Prisons has been asked to probe the allegations An enquiry has been started by DIG Prisonsrdquo Fadnavisrsquos office told midday on ThursdayI have told the deputy inspector general Prisons South Region to conduct a thorough probe into the allegations of the inmate published in middayrdquo Amitabh Gupta additional director general Prisons Maharashtra told middayUndertrial Iqbal Shaikh fractured his hand after being allegedly thrashed by a hawaldar at Arthur Road jail in AprilMeanwhile DIG Prisons Yogesh Desai south region said ldquoI am conducting a thorough investigation into the allegations made by the inmate and recording the statements of all the prison staff and the inmates who witnessed the alleged incident of April 24 at Arthur Road jailrdquo The probe report will be submitted before the ADG Prisons in Pune and strictest action will be taken if any prison staff member is found guilty Desai addedAccording to sources in Arthur Road jail there was a pin drop silence on the premises after midday hit the news stand with the big exposeacute on Thursday ldquoToday everybody is silent They are busy covering up their misdeeds before the arrival of the DIGrdquo said a source However there is no misdeed to cover up according to Arthur Road jail superintendent Nitin Vayachal ldquoI was in the USA since April 20 on a monthlong leave So I donrsquot know what exactly happened but the allegation that inmates have to pay for sleeping space is nothing but a blatant lierdquo he told middayOn the allegation that hawaldar M K Bhoir assaulted undertrial Iqbal Abbas Shaikh for speaking up against the cashforbed racket ldquoThe hawaldar is innocent At least he cannot demand money from any inmate for sleeping space Iqbal is trying to gain media attention just to secure bail as he is imprisoned since 2021 How can he pay Rs 3 lakh when his bank account has only Rs 55rdquo Vayachal said Bhoir allegedly assaulted Iqbal on April 24CCTVs donrsquot work jail top copVayachal instead alleged that almost all of the CCTV cameras in the prison have been dysfunctional for a few years now and that his requests to the ADG Prisons Pune and others have yielded to resultldquoAt least 120 CCTV cameras are currently required for the electronic surveillance of Arthur Road jail as all the machines that were installed during 201314 got damaged in rainwaterSikandar Shaikh Iqbalrsquos brother PicAtul KambleldquoI have written many letters to ADG Prisons Pune for the installation of CCTV cameras but the government is not paying heed to our request I have also written to the collector so that the MLAsMPs funds can be used for CCTVs but there is no response Due to COVID19 there is scarcity of grantrdquo Vayachal claimed ldquoBut I am telling you that there is no money involved for sleeping space at Arthur Roadrdquo he insistedHe then pointed out that four CCTV cameras are functional in barrack number 12 which was recently renovated for fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi The Indian government is trying to extradite him from the UK The source also confirmed to midday that CCTV cameras inside the jail donrsquot work When told about dysfunctional CCTVs Sikandar pointed out ldquoIf the CCTV cameras are not functional at Arthur Road jail the prison staff will continue their highhandedness and assault get away with false storiesrdquo If what the officer is saying about CCTVs is true then there is no visual proof of Iqbalrsquos assault he addedlsquoCop putting pressurersquoSikandar Shaikh told midday that PSI Sagar Parkale of N M Marg police station where he had gone on Wednesday with a complaint is threatening his jailed brother Iqbal He also visited Arthur Road jail on Thursday ldquoSomething was not right My brother is a confident man and does not break down easily But he was in tears when I met him today after waiting for four hoursldquoPSI Parkale had gone to meet my brother in the jail He told me that Parkale threatened him and asked him to withdraw his complaint saying that he cannot do anything against the prison staffrdquo Sikandar saidPSI Parkale told my brother on Wednesday evening lsquoTaalab me reh kar magarmach se bair kyun le raha hai Jail staff wale ko kuch nahi hoga Tu akela case karega to kya hoga Apna case wapas le le Your case alone wonrsquot do anything Why are you messing with the prison staff while being jailed Take the case backrsquordquo said SikandarSikandar alleged that two constables were deployed during his meeting with Iqbal ldquoIt had never happened before but on Thursday two constables were listening to our conversations We could not talk freely in their presencerdquo he addedlsquoThreats at jailrsquoOn Thursday Sikandar alleged that one Kharge who is incharge of barrack number 11 took Iqbal to a room and made a video of him ldquoKharge forced Iqbal to say that he was not assaulted by anyone in the jail instead he fractured his hand after falling down the staircaserdquo he addedldquoWhile I was waiting to meet Iqbal Kharge was busy threatening him inside pressuring him not to file a police complaint else we would face dire consequencesrdquo Sikandar said adding that his brother is going to fight against the corrupt officers Sikandar said that Iqbal also told him that police are not producing him in court because they ldquoknow that Iqbal will expose the rate card of the Arthur Road jail where a bed sheet is sold for Rs 25000 a pillow with a mattress for Rs 75000rdquoldquoSoon I will engage a lawyer to meet my brother in jail I will not spare the corrupt officialsrdquo he vowed Meanwhile no case has been filed at N M Joshi Marg police station where the complaint was submitted by Sikandar ldquoWe are conducting an enquiry and all the needful will be done as per the ambit of lawrdquo Senior Inspector Sunil Chandramore said