Inmate accuses jailor of giving ‘VIP treatment’ to criminals

JAIPUR: An inmate of the central jail in Jodhpur has accused the jailor of giving “VIP treatment to hardcore criminals” in the jail. The accusation made by the inmate, Azad Singh Rajpurohit, against t he j ailor, Jagdish Prasad Poonia, in a video has gone viral on social media.

The charges of corrupt practices in the Jodhpur central jail comes close on the heels of a bribery racket unearthed by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in the Ajmer central jail.

Rajpurohit had earlier circulated a letter on social media groups in which he had made serious allegations against the jailor of Jodhpur central jail. HT has a copy of the letter.

“I used to live in ward number 11/3. The corrupt officer Jagdish Prasad Poonia has appointed his own man in the canteen store, chief office, ward number and administration office. In ward number 1, in which new inmates are lodged, they were given special privileges like mobile phone, drugs, intoxicants, beedi and other services,” alleged Rajpurohit, a resident of Marwar junction in Pali district, who was serving life sentence in the Jodhpur jail, but recently shifted to the Udaipur central jail.

“Poonia would provide a bundle of beedi at Rs 2, 000 and tobacco pouches at Rs 1,000 to new inmates with good financial background. He would order extra ration and would sell it in black to rich inmates. There are VIP barracks in ward number 1, where special facilities like clean room, special food, clean clothes etc are provided,” Rajpurohit added.

Rajpurohit claimed that when he asked Poonia to stop the corrupt practices, the jailor threatened him to shift to a jail where he will not be able to meet his family members.

Going by the Rajpurohit’s allegations, the banned products were being sold to the Jodhpur jail inmates at prices 50 times higher than the market prices.

When contacted over the charges, Poonia did not respond.

Additional director general (ADG), jail, Malini Agarwal said that they have launched an inquiry into the video.

“Although the video is old, but we have started an internal inquiry to look into the allegations. Rajpurohit was shifted to Udaipur central jail five days back on October 10,” the police officer said.

Former inspector general of Rajasthan prisons, Radhakant Saxena said that the racket of senior inmates extorting money on behalf of jail officials is operational across almost every jail in the state and not just the Jodhpur central jail.