Following a judicial inquiry that has unearthed another extortion, torture and drug racket in the Patiala Central Jail, the police have booked a former jail superintendent, a former deputy superintendent and an ex-warder.
Those booked have been identified as suspended jail superintendent Rajan Kapur, deputy superintendent (retd) Teja Singh and head warder (retd) Paramjit Singh. The accused are booked under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 384 (extortion), 330 (voluntary causing hurt to extortion) and 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While Rajan Kapur is under suspension, the other two had retired.
The incident of extortion took place from 2017 to 2019. An inmate, Vishal Singh, had written to the judiciary alleging that the jail superintendent along with his close aides was running an extortion racket in the jail and also harassed the inmates. Not only this, they also supplied drugs in the jail. It was alleged that the accused tortured the inmates, forced them to call their family members and asked them to deposit money in the bank account of a relative of the warder, which was later withdrawn by the jail superintendent. If someone didn’t yield, he faced torture.
Following the complaint, judicial magistrate Gurbinder Singh Johal inquired into the matter and found the charges to be correct. He observed: “After going through the oral and documentary records, I find the allegation being levelled by Vishal Singh prima facie to be true. His allegations are corroborated by the statement of another inmate Hardev Singh, who clearly stated regarding the extortion and torture racket which is going on in the Central Jail Patiala at the behest of the jail superintendent. He has even mentioned the name of Balkar Singh in whose wife’s bank account the money was deposited by the inmates which were later on withdrawn by the superintendent.”
{{/usCountry}}Following the complaint, judicial magistrate Gurbinder Singh Johal inquired into the matter and found the charges to be correct. He observed: “After going through the oral and documentary records, I find the allegation being levelled by Vishal Singh prima facie to be true. His allegations are corroborated by the statement of another inmate Hardev Singh, who clearly stated regarding the extortion and torture racket which is going on in the Central Jail Patiala at the behest of the jail superintendent. He has even mentioned the name of Balkar Singh in whose wife’s bank account the money was deposited by the inmates which were later on withdrawn by the superintendent.”
{{/usCountry}}The district and sessions judge, Rajinder Aggarwal, forwarded the inquiry to the registrar of the high court with the observation: “As per the report, the allegation made by complainant Vishal has been found to be correct.”
He asked the high court to take necessary action. The high court on August 17, 2021, forwarded the inquiry to take suitable action against the erring officials and inform the court within two months. However, the jail department delayed the action and didn’t move the file. They wrote to the police on January 17, 2022, to register an FIR.
Further, the Patiala Police kept the file pending. However, it was after new jail minister Harjot Singh Bains took over and asked for the status of the previous inquiries that the department asked the police. After this, an FIR has been registered against the officials.
Kapur is already facing another FIR for extorting money from inmates which was registered on the basis of an inquiry conducted by former IPS officer and now MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh. He was dismissed from service but later reinstated by the high court.