2,000 Exhaust Fans Removed At Tihar Jail Weeks After Gangster's Murder

Replacing over 2,000 exhaust fans with plastic ones and installing lights at dark spots are among the measures the Tihar Jail has taken to prevent incidents like the recent murder of jailed gangster Tillu Tajpuriya, officials said on Tuesday.

After the brutal murder of Tajpuriya inside the prison on May 2, Director General of Delhi Prisons Sanjay Beniwal issued a circular to remove "dangerous objects" from wards of Tihar Jail that can be used by inmates to make improvised weapons, they said.

The Public Works Department (PWD) will be carrying out the work. It has floated tenders for Central Jail number 1 of Tihar and more are in the offing. Once the tender is awarded the work has to be completed within a month, the officials added.

According to prison officials, keeping the safety of inmates in mind and to prevent a repetition of such incidents in the near future, the Tihar Jail administration got more than 2,000 exhaust fans removed from the wards housing the barracks where inmates are lodged.

"More than 2,000 exhaust fans installed in the wards of the Tihar jails have been removed and these will be replaced by plastic exhaust fans, which will be installed by the PWD by this month. The process of removing the exhaust fans started after gangster Tillu Tajpuriya was murdered," a senior jail official said.

He added that exhaust fans were removed only from wards of Tihar jails since those installed in the Rohini and Mandoli jails are out of reach of the inmates lodged there.

The attackers of Tajpuriya had also taken advantage of certain "dark spots" to gain access to his cell and so, to keep a close watch on the activities in such areas, LED lights will also be installed, he said.

"We have identified certain dark spots inside the wards and soon these areas will be lit up with LED lights. This will also help the guards to keep a close watch on any suspicious activities inside the premises," the official added.

The jail officials said the iron grilles of water coolers have also been covered with plastic so that no inmate can use these to make "improvised weapons".

Tajpuriya was killed with "improvised weapons" allegedly by four members of the rival Gogi gang - Deepak alias Titar, Yogesh alias Tunda, Rajesh, and Riyaz Khan - who stabbed him "92 times". The four attackers, lodged on the first floor of the prison, cut an iron grille and used bed sheets to climb down, police had said.

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