L-G sanctions CBI probe against former Tihar Jail official

New Delhi: L-G VK Saxena has sanctioned an inquiry by the CBI against a former jail superintendent of Tihar prison in connection with a “racket” that allegedly extorted Rs 10 crore from jailed money laundering accused Sukash Chandrashekhar, Raj Niwas officials said on Friday.

The matter is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and a request for prosecution sanction was made to the L-G, who is the competent authority in the matter, through Delhi government’s directorate of vigilance (DoV), they said.

“The L-G has sanctioned the CBI Inquiry u/s 17A of Prevention of Corruption (POC) Act, 1988, against Raj Kumar, the then Superintendent of Jail No 4, Tihar prison complex,” they said.

The CBI had in November last year also sought sanction from the Delhi L-G to file a case against former minister Satyendar Jain for allegedly “extorting” crores of rupees from various “high profile prisoners”, including Chandrashekhar, to enable them to live comfortably in prison, they said. The central agency is charging allegations of Chandrashekhar that Rs 10 crore were extorted from him in installments during 2018-21, for providing his comfortable, peaceful stay in the jail.

“The accused jail superintendent was a close associate of then director general of prisons and aided him in extorting money from Chandrashekhar and even himself tried to extort money from him through PayTM mode,” claimed Raj Niwas officials said.

The CBI earlier claimed that “a high level corruption and extortion racket” was being run in the jails of Delhi in connivance with top prison officers and private persons.

Jain is currently out of jail on an interim bail granted by the Supreme Court on medical grounds. He was arrested by the enforcement directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in May 2022.