New Delhi: For decades, Tihar has marketed itself as one of India’s best prisons. Not only does South Asia’s largest prison complex pride itself on its constant surveillance — with over 900 CCTV cameras to cover a 400-acre area, and a massive police force — but it also provides for the rehabilitation of inmates through recreational activities like yoga.
Tihar is home to not just dreaded gangsters such as Neeraj Bawana, Kala Jathedi, Deepak “Boxer”, Manjeet Mahal, and Hashim Baba. It also houses, or has housed in the past, a motley group of VIP inmates — from former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, politicians Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia, and activist Umar Khalid, to Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar.
But the killings of gangsters Prince Tewatia and Sunil alias Tillu Tajpuriya, who were lodged in Tihar, within one month have brought forth a different side to the prison — one said to be defined by corruption, caste politics, gang rivalries, and a complete disregard for the law.
The two killings — Tewatia on 14 April and Tajpuriya on 2 May, both allegedly by fellow inmates — have exposed major lapses in the prison’s security system.
Despite rules, inmates have in the past managed to get access to phones, alcohol, hard cash and even weapons, according to former Tihar officials.
The reason, they say, is poor security checks.
“There are only cursory checks. Not all prisoners are removed from the barracks and metal detectors are not used all the time. More often, the checks aren’t watertight as it should be, which is why the planning and execution of murders and murder plots take place,” a former director general prisons, who didn’t want to be named, told ThePrint.
According to the former officials, an interplay of several factors — lack of communication, dereliction of duty, a cop-prisoner nexus, money power and blatant corruption — is behind the security lapses at what is supposed to be one of India’s most secure jails.
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TN policemen’s ‘reluctance’ to get involved
The national capital has three prisons — Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini — and they are divided into a total of 16 jails, marked Jail No. 1 to 16. Jails 1-9 are in Tihar, Jail No. 10 is in Rohini, and Jails 11-16 are in Mandoli prison.
On 14 April, gangster Tewatia was stabbed at least eight times, allegedly by fellow inmates — all members of a rival gang — inside a high-security cell of the Tihar jail.
Just over a fortnight later, Tajpuriya was killed, allegedly in a similar attack by four fellow inmates. He was stabbed more than 100 times.
In the aftermath of Tajpuriya’s killing, 99 jail officials were transferred and seven policemen of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who were on duty at the time of the incident, were suspended and sent back to their home state.
Despite the questions that rose following the two incidents, this is far from the first incident of its kind at the jail — the last few years have seen several incidents of murder, and conspiracies to kill, within the walls of Tihar, former officials of the prison told ThePrint.
It’s not always regular weapons such as guns and knives that are used inside the prison walls. According to officials, frequently, the “weapons” used for stabbing are fashioned out of everyday items — sharpened aluminum spoons, plates, and even iron rods used in fans and TVs.
But, according to officials, none of this can be carried out without prison guards playing some role — either actively or, as is alleged in the Tajpuriya case, by refraining from intervening.
Viral videos of the incident purportedly show personnel of the Tamil Nadu Special Police watching silently as the four suspects, all said to be members of a rival gang, assaulted and stabbed Tajpuriya.
The former officials said such incidents occur because police personnel from Tamil Nadu are reluctant to get involved in gang wars, as their postings in Delhi are temporary.
Tamil Nadu Police personnel have been regularly posted in Tihar jail since 1976, when a major jailbreak revealed possible police complicity, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Sunil Gupta, a former law officer and spokesperson of Tihar, told ThePrint that personnel from Tamil Nadu Special Police guard only the prison’s high-security wards. This was done in the hope that the language barrier would help prevent any cop-prisoner nexus, he said, adding that, over time, this move was seen to backfire, compromising security.
“Moreover, the TN Special Police also get transferred out in a couple of years, and hence they really don’t want to get involved in these gang wars. They also don’t report to DG Prisons and actions against them can only be taken by the Tamil Nadu Police. In some cases, they are also scared to get involved and, in others, they couldn’t care less,” he said.
Another officer who was posted as DG prisons in Delhi told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity that new batches of Tamil Nadu Police officers who are posted in Tihar are at times not briefed adequately.
At others, the language barrier acts as a hindrance in communication, and instructions often get lost in translation.
“They (the officers) said they didn’t know what to do. They also didn’t get the weapons out and kept waiting for instructions from their seniors,” he said. “But it can’t be denied that there was negligence on their part. If four men are stabbing another prisoner, and you, as security personnel, are just standing there, then this is nothing but just negligence and not wanting to commit to the service.”
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‘Caste protection & money’
Caste is said to be a major factor at play inside Tihar. According to a former jail official, prison staff tend to ally with their own caste members — not just for money but also for protection.
“Caste plays a role everywhere and Delhi prisons are no different. Sometimes, they just want to be in the good books for money and other goodies,” the former jail official said. “There have been instances in the past where jail staff have added the same surname just to prove their allegiance to a particular gang. Some of them just don’t want to be involved because they fear for their lives.”
Money is the other factor that is believed to play a role in the jail hierarchy — the richer the inmate, the more luxuries he is said to get within the prison. This could range from access to alcohol, phones, and massages, to even setting up offices within jail.
“Money can get anyone anything anywhere, even in prisons. The more power and money a prisoner has, the more dominance he has in prison,” a senior Delhi Police officer told ThePrint. “Moreover, gangsters have a lot of fan following, whether inside prison or on digital media. Sometimes, even prison staff become part of this.”
There are other problems too — such as the unchecked access that some prisoners get to electronics. According to Gupta, at least two cells of the high-security ward are used as storage rooms for discarded electronics such as phones.
Although prison inmates aren’t allowed access to these, “blatant corruption” means that they can have what they want from there, says Gupta.
All this results in some prison inmates getting away with almost anything, according to officials. Indeed, there have been instances of inmates running extortion rackets and even ordering hits from inside prisons, they say.
The most significant among these was the killing of Punjabi singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moose Wala, who was shot dead on 29 May 2022, in Punjab’s Mansa district. The “hit” was allegedly ordered by Canada-based gangster Goldie Brar and his associate Lawrence Bishnoi, who was then in Tihar jail.
Likewise, “conman” Sukesh Chandrashekhar allegedly ran his extortion racket from inside Rohini jail.
‘Impunity’
The last few years have seen multiple instances of killings and murder conspiracies within Delhi prisons.
In 2020, a Tihar inmate killed another prisoner to allegedly avenge the rape of a relative. According to media reports, the accused allegedly used an improvised weapon to stab the other inmate.
In 2021, gangster Ankit Gujjar was found dead inside the jail premises. The CBI subsequently charged former jail deputy superintendent of Tihar, Narendra Meena, with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Gujjar was allegedly beaten to death by jail staffers after he resisted being shifted to another ward. Meena has reportedly also been accused of harassing the gangster for money.
In March 2021, a Muslim convict allegedly planned to kill two Hindu inmates to avenge the 2020 Delhi riots by using mercury in tadka.
The killing of gangster Jitender Gogi, who was shot dead inside the Rohini court complex during a hearing, was also allegedly planned inside the Mandoli prison complex by the rival Tillu gang in September 2021. A couple of months later, the probe reportedly revealed that Shekhar Rana alias Sannata, an associate of Tajpuriya, was killed after a plan was hatched inside the Tihar jail premises.
These murders took place despite the round-the-clock security at prisons.
“These brawls in Tihar make it seem like it isn’t a jail but a hostel. CCTV footage (of such murders) shows the impunity of the inmates and major lapses on the part of the security personnel,” Gupta said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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