NEW CLIPS...

and head massages in his cell, reading some documents and talking to visitors.

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta, who shared the video on Twitter, said it showed Kumar visiting Jain inside his jail at 7.52pm on September 12. “The former prison minister is getting a royal treatment. Now the jail superintendent has come to mark his attendance and ensure that there are no lapses is ensuring a royal treatment for him,” Gupta posted on Twitter.

Until his arrest in the ED case, Jain, Delhi’s former health minister, also held the prisons portfolio.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections had become a contest between “10 videos of the BJP and 10 tasks performed by the Kejriwal government”. The people will respond on December 4, he said in an apparent reference to the string of videos featuring Jain.

The MCD elections will be held on December 4 and the results will be declared on December 7.

On November 14, Kumar was suspended as Tihar superintendent for circumventing rules and giving special facilities to Jain. Until his suspension, Kumar was the head of Jail 7, where Jain is lodged. Others who assisted Kumar were also suspended, while 28 jail officers were transferred, according to officials.

A Delhi court on Saturday said the AAP minister was prime facie being given “preferential treatment” inside Tihar jail in violation of rules, which has now been stopped. Special judge Vikas Dhull made the observation while dismissing Jain’s plea, which sought direction to Tihar officials to provide him special food items according to his religious beliefs.

Delhi BJP leader Parvesh Verma again demanded Jain’s expulsion from the party and as a minister. “This is the first time in the history of the country that a sitting minister has been in jail for six months; the court has rejected the bail but he has not still resigned from the post. The video shows Jain is running a ‘chaupaal’ in his cell, meeting with the jail superintendent and his so called “therapist” who later turned out to be a rapist,” Verma said.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. Jain has filed a petition in a court, accusing ED of leaking CCTV footage and requesting the court to direct the agency to stop leaking videos of his stay in the prison.

The latest video shows Jain in his cell with at least three other people before the now-suspended superintendent walks in and sits on a chair next to his bed.

Tihar’s former law officer, Sunil Gupta, who worked in the jail for over three decades, said: “The gates of the jail are locked after 6.30pm. Prisoners cannot step out after that time.”

Last month, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) sought a report from Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar regarding allegations that Jain was availing “special treatment” inside the jail in connivance with jail authorities. The MHA sought the report after ED informed a Delhi court that Jain was living a “luxurious lifestyle” with facilities such as massages, fruits and salads as well as meeting his family members and witnesses of the case in which he has been arrested.

ED arrested Jain in May under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The central agency’s probe is based on a 2017 case of CBI in which the AAP leader and his wife Poonam Jain are accused of amassing disproportionate assets worth ₹1.47 crore between February 2015 and May 2017.

Jain has denied the allegations, and the AAP has described the CBI and ED action as “political vendetta”.

Last week, a video was circulated on social media in which Jain was seen getting a massage from an inmate in his cell inside Tihar, sparking a sharp offensive from the BJP.

While deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said it was part of Jain’s physiotherapy required after surgery, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the video showed that Jain was being treated as a VIP. “Why is this massage being provided to the prisoner? Why is Jain not in the jail uniform meant for prisoners? The video shows four people in Jain’s cell. Why are so many people being allowed in the cell? The chief minister should answer this,” he said.

The AAP has denied Jain was getting a massage and also said that it was pressure therapy provided to Jain on a doctor’s recommendation. “The BJP leaked the tape, is weaving a false narrative and is making fun of the man. Jain is in jail for 6 months. While in jail, he slipped and was injured in the spine. Due to this spine injury, he has undergone two surgeries and while discharging him, the doctors had recommended that physiotherapy should be provided,” Sisodia said last week.

The BJP later said the man seen in the video was a jail inmate accused of raping a minor.