Probe Panel Says Jailed Delhi Minister "Misused" Official Position

The Inquiry Committee report on the purported leaked CCTV footage from the Tihar jail of Satyendar Jain made massive claims regarding the "special facilities" given to the jailed Delhi Minister.

The Committee, comprising Pr. Secy. (Home), Pr. Secy. (Law) and Secy. (Vigilance), said that Jain "violated norms and rules of the prison" and also "misused his official position and authority".

The report said that at least five inmates, identified as Rinku (POCSO accused), Afsar Ali, Manish (POCSO accused), Sonu Singh and Dilip Kumar, were "pressurized" by the Jail administration including Jail Superintendent, Jail Warden and Jail Munshi.

It said that the officials pressurized them to provide "special services" to the jailed Minister.

"(The report) underlines that a retinue of Jail officials including Wardens, Munshis and other staff were involved in the service of Satyendar Jain," it said.

The Committee said that it found "collusion" on part of then DG Prison, Sandeep Goel with Satyendar Jain, and recommended departmental proceedings against Goel for extending VIP treatment to the Minister.

"Sandeep Goel met Satyendar Jain in his cell for about 50 minutes on October 6, 2022, from 18.39 hrs to 19.29 hrs. This reflects that Sandeep Goel was quite close to Satyendar Jain and indicates the collusion of top brass, i.e. the then DG (Prisons) Sandeep Goel," it said.

According to the report, the inmates who were seen giving services to Jain did not offer any service "out of love and affection", but out of fear.

"The inmates did not offer any service to Jain voluntarily or out of "love and affection" as cited by the suspended Jail Superintendent Ajit Kumar. Instead, the inmates feared that if they refused to obey, they would be given "Punishment Ticket" or tortured in the jail," the report said.

It further said that Jain violated Prison Rules frequently and held "court in his room".

"In violation of Prison Rules, Satyendra Jain frequently held court in his room with co-accused in the same case Vaibhav Jain and Ankush Jain apart from Sanjay Gupta and Raman Bhuraria who are accused in other cases filed by ED. Such meetings often happened even during restricted curfew hours," it said.

The report said that the massage, which was claimed by the Aam Aadmi Party as 'physiotherapy', was given by another inmate Rinku involuntarily.

"The massage given by Rinku was facilitated by jail authorities as special treatment to Satyendra Jain. This massage was not voluntary or out of love and affection, as claimed by the then Superintendent Jail but was in the nature of leisure for enjoying a lavish lifestyle in jail by Satyendra Jain. This can also be termed to be an abuse of authority and in violation of norms of the jail," it said.

The Committee's report said that the then Jail Superintendent Ajit Kumar interacted with Jain in his cell for about 15 minutes on September 12.

Making a sensational charge, the report said that the jailed Minister made a "benami use of the jail account cards of other inmates" to "purchase fruits/food and other items for his personal use".

"These jail account cards were recharged by the Jail warden and other financially well-off inmates," it said.

"3-4 Jail account cards were used by Satyendra Jain and his close aide Sanjay Gupta to purchase consumables from the jail canteen. This was done to circumvent the monthly monetary limit of Rs 7,000 per card per month," it added.

The Mulakat Records for the month of September and October show that Poonam Jain, wife of Satyendar Jain and other family members met him in Jail on several occasions at "restricted places" on the Jail premises "not meant for such visits".

According to the report, Rinku who is a POCSO accused gave a massage to Jain. The inmate is accused of raping a minor.

Afsar Ali who is in Jail for not paying maintenance to his wife, mopped and cleaned Jain's cell.

Manish (POCSO accused) provided fruits and outside food to Jain. He is accused of raping a minor.

Sonu Singh is in Jail for not paying maintenance to his wife. He mopped and cleaned Jain's cell.

Dilip Kumar, another Tihar inmate provided cleaning services to Jain.

According to the report, the statements of the inmates were recorded.

Rinku, who gave Jain a massage said, "I have provided the massage to the inmate Satyendar Jain and that too at the instructions of jail officials. Now I am being threatened. I have not even taken a drop of water from the cell of Satyendra Jain for giving the massage."

Rinku informed the members of the committee that he never got any training or course either in masseur work or for doing physiotherapy and that his main profession was to provide Ghodi services during marriage functions.

Afsar Ali said, "I was under the impression that these people i.e. Sanjay Gupta and Satyendar Jain would help me out in depositing the arrears of maintenance in the court for me and would help me financially to come out from jail...My jail account card was actually funded and used by Sanjay Gupta".

Manish said, "One Vikas, who was Warden in this jail used to deposit money in my jail account card. By using my card, I used to purchase fruits from the jail canteen for Satyendra Jain. He deposited money in my jail account card 3-4 times and each time he deposited Rs. 6900... I did not provide services to Satyendar Jain willingly".

Sonu Singh said that he too was asked by one Munshi of the jail to provide his services to Jain. He was under compulsion as he had to follow the instructions of the Munshi and whenever he refused to oblige him, the Munshi used to produce him before the supervising jail staff.

Dilip Kumar told the committee that he provided cleaning services to Satyendar Jain at the instructions of Jail Munshi, Sushil....He did not provide such services to other inmates.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)