Delhi CM in jail, Tihar prepares...
NEW DELHI: Officials in Delhi’s Tihar Jail are huddled in meetings over the possibility that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi liquor policy, might land up at India’s largest prison, people aware of the developments said on Tuesday.
To be sure, the current custody of Kejriwal, who was arrested by the agency on March 21, expires on March 28 and his petition against the arrest will be heard by the Delhi high court on Wednesday. The CM has argued for his immediate release on account of the arrest and the subsequent remand being “illegal”.
If his appeal before the high court and, subsequently, the Supreme Court, is unsuccessful, he is not granted bail at the next hearing scheduled on Wednesday, or his ED custody is extended, the CM might be sent to judicial custody, which raises the possibility of his landing up at Tihar Jail.
Three of Kejriwal’s party colleagues — Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, and former Delhi ministers Satyendar Jain and Manish Sisodia — are currently incarcerated in Tihar. All three are lodged alone, unlike other prisoners who share cells inside the jail. Singh is in jail 2, Jain in jail 7, and Sisodia in jail 1.
Sisodia and Singh are also in prison in connection with alleged irregularities in the excise policy, while Jain, who was arrested by ED in May 2022, is accused of laundering money through four companies allegJain edly linked to him.
“Some cells in jail 5 have been emptied. It is possible this space within jail 5 is being sanitised for the Delhi CM. Apart from this, prison officials are also checking the possibility of lodging him in jail 1, 3 and 7. He will be kept far from prisoners with history of heinous crimes,” said an official aware of the activities in Tihar Jail, on condition of anonymity
The prison department in Delhi comes under the administrative jurisdiction of the Delhi government. All prison officials are employees of the Delhi government, barring the director general of prisons, who is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer.The current prisons minister is Kailash Gahlot.
If the CM is indeed brought to Tihar, he might be kept alone in a cell, like the other AAP leaders, said a second official. “If for some reason he is lodged in the same jail complex, the location of the cell will be different so there won’t be any interaction with the other top AAP leaders,” a second official said, also requesting anonymity.
Mid-level jail officials said that finding a safe cell for Kejriwal, along with handpicked prison guards, is important because of two reasons — one is the CM’s security, and the second is to ensure that jail rules are not flouted. The Centre has accorded Z-plus security (the highest level) to Kejriwal.
“Prison guards will have to be handpicked so that rules are not flouted. There was a controversy during former minister Satyendar Jain’s stay. Even the prison’s director general was suspended. Only those guards who have a clean record, despite serving with high profile inmates, will be posted to ensure that the prison manual is followed. But this is a challenge, given the fact that all junior officials are state government employees. From their housing to salary, promotion and other benefits, they depend on the prison’s minister,” the second official said, requesting anonymity.
was accused of taking undue advantage of his position and flouting jail rules. There was a CCTV footage of Jain getting massage from a fellow prisoner inside the jail. Other CCTV clips showed prisoners sweeping and making Jain’s bed in his cell inside the prison.
A third official said according to the prison manual, Kejriwal, if brought to Tihar, will be allowed to meet his family members and legal team twice a week. Prisoners are also entitled to make a five-minute phone call to his contacts every day.
“The phone number to which a prisoner makes the call is approved by the jail superintendent. Unless there is a court order, the manual allows only biweekly visits for legal and family members,” said the third official
The AAP has insisted that Kejriwal will not resign as CM and continue working. According to the third official, a handful of people were allowed to have offices and conduct their business from Tihar — that too on court orders.
“Two cases are of Sahara India chairman Subroto Roy and of Unitech promoters Sanjay and Ajay Chandra. But in both cases, they were allowed access to an office so that they could sell their properties and pay off investors who had lost money in their project,” the third official added.
There is no prohibition either in the Constitution or under any statute that mandates a sitting CM to resign after arrest in a criminal case. It is only after their conviction and an imposition of a jail term that they must resign. However, the convention is that arrested leaders quit top posts.