Senior Tihar officer arrested for inmate’s murder in prison
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: A deputy superintendent of Delhi’s Tihar jail has been arrested by the CBI in connection with the murder of gangster Ankit Gujjar inside the jail last year, prison officers aware of the matter said on Tuesday. Narendra Meena, who was posted in jail number 3, was named in an FIR in the case that was registered at the Hari Nagar police station. The case was later transferred to CBI when Gujjar’s family members alleged that he was murdered by jail officials for not paying extortion money.
Meena is the first jail officer to be arrested in this case, which made headlines last year after it emerged that prison officers tried to cover up the murder. Meena, who was the senior most officers inside the jail at the time of Gujjar’s murder, was under suspension since last year.
Gujjar, 29, was allegedly beaten to death by prison officers inside jail 3 on August 3,2021. His family members alleged Gujjar was beaten to death for allegedly failing to pay the “protection money” to prison officers. But the prison department said Gujjar and two others were injured in a scuffle that broke out after jail officers confiscated a cell phone, data cable, and a knife inside Gujjar’s cell. The alleged gangster succumbed to his injuries and was found dead in a cell, where he was shifted, the following morning.
Until his arrest in August 2020, Gujjar was one of western Uttar Pradesh’s most wanted persons. He was named accused in at least eight murder cases among other criminal cases. He carried a reward of ₹1.25 lakh at the time of his arrest -- ₹1 lakh announced by UP police and ₹25,000 by Delhi police.
The central investigating agency is also probing the role of other prison officers for murder and charges of extortion against them. On March 4, 2022, CBI told a city court that they were likely to register a separate case of extortion in the matter against jail officers.
A prison spokesperson confirmed Meena has been arrested but refused to divulge more details.
Gujjar’s brother, Ankur Gujjar,
said CBI had recorded the family’s statement on the money that was paid to the jail officers. “The CBI team visited us last week. We have handed them all the evidence that we have related to the money transfers to the jail officers,” he added.
HT had earlier reported that the CBI has found proof, which shows Gujjar’s family members deposited at least ₹2 lakh rupees in three different bank accounts on March 22, 23, 29, and April 4 in 2021. The money was transferred through UPI in the name of Rizwan Ahmed, Anshul Bedi and another unnamed person. Apart from these online transactions, the CBI is also probing allegations that ₹50,000 was paid outside jail number 3 to a person named Rishi sometime in May 2021.
The CBI did not respond to requests seeking a comment on the investigation.