Dead Tihar inmate’s brother cries foul; blames cops, money power for gang wars

The brother of one of the deceased prisoners Pradeep, who was killed in a fierce fight inside a prison van on Tuesday, has alleged the involvement of police and money in the gang war which claimed the lives of two prisoners. According to Pradeep’s brother Sanam Dagar, the deceased had earlier complained about life threat and even an application was moved to provide him security.

“My brother had informed me about <g data-gr-id="27">threat</g> to his life and planning of his murder in jail. We were in the process to move an application through our advocate to provide him appropriate security,” said Sanam Dagar, brother of Pradeep Bhola. According to Dagar, former independent MLA Rambir <g data-gr-id="26">Shokeen,</g> orchestrated the murder and paid around Rs 2 crore to police and jail authorities through a member of the rival Neeraj Bawana gang.

“The police were <g data-gr-id="29">aware about</g> the rivalry of the gang and also the enmity among the members but put them in the same van. It seems policemen were involved in the plan and facilitated the murder by not acting on time,” added Dagar. He also claimed that minutes before the incident Bhola had again informed him about the conspiracy of his murder and even refused to sit in the van. 

“Despite his refusal to sit in the van, police forced him to sit in it and did not act to save his life,” he blamed. However, in their reports, both jail authorities and the 3rd Battalion, Delhi Armed Police, deployed for security of the under-trials, denied any slackness from their end and rejected the conspiracy theory. Both have blamed each other about the incident.

Meanwhile, a hearing was organised in the lock-up to address the case involving Neeraj Bawana, Navin Bali, Rahul Kala, Dinesh, Sunny, Navin Bhanja, and Sunil.