New Delhi:
Warder of the high-security enclosure at Tihar jail, in which a prisoner was allegedly murdered last week, has been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty, a senior prison official said today.
The warder, Joginder, was supposed to be on duty till 10 PM but he allegedly left around 9:55 PM, without waiting for the other warder to come and officially relieve him for the day as per protocol.
"The warder was suspended on Thursday (August 13)," said Mukesh Prasad, DIG (Prisons) Tihar.
The prison authorities have initiated an inquiry into the incident to figure out suspected loopholes in security inside the jail premises. A report based on this enquiry is yet to be prepared, said Mr Prasad.
Around 10 pm on August 11, a 29-year-old inmate lodged at the high-security ward in jail number 8 of Tihar central jail was allegedly stabbed to death by four other inmates over a suspected monetary dispute.
The deceased, identified as Dipak, was allegedly beaten up with iron rods sourced from a window and then stabbed with a sharp object, said a police official.
He was rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries around 11:30 PM. A case of murder was then registered at Hari Nagar police station in west Delhi, said the official.
The accused were identified as Satpal Bedi, Manpreet Singh, Riyaz and Suraj.
Manpreet already had two murder cases registered against him. One of the two murders was allegedly committed inside the jail premises. While Satpal is serving a life sentence, Riyaz is an under-trial in connection with murder cases. Suraj has as many as six cases registered against him, said an official.
Dipak was lodged in Tihar since 2008 in several cases ranging from dacoity to attempt to murder, the official added.