80 jail officials transferred in major Delhi jail reshuffle

Few of them were transferred due to their alleged negligence with regard to Tillu Tajpuria’s May 2 killing, a jail officer said.

Around 80 officers posted in three city jails were transferred on Friday, officials said, a day after the Delhi high court expressed dissatisfaction over the recent killing of jailed gangster Tillu Tajpuria in Tihar prison amid tight surveillance.

The officials described the transfer from Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini jails as a largely “routine” exercise. But some of them were allegedly responsible for negligence in the Tillu Tajpuria’s murder in Tihar. (HT photo)

The officials described the transfer from Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini jails as a largely “routine” exercise.

According to an order issued by the office of director general (prisons) Sanjay Baniwal, the list of transferred staff includes five deputy superintendents, nine assistant superintendents, eight head warders and 58 warders.

Few of them were , however, transferred due to their alleged negligence with regard to Tajpuria’s May 2 killing, a jail officer aware of the development said.

“These transfers are part of jails’ routine reshuffling. Few of them have been transferred due to their alleged negligence during gangster’s murder. But otherwise, it is a routine reshuffling. In the last lot, many officials from Tihar headquarters had been shifted to other jails. This time, most of them were posted in Mandoli jail headquarters. This reshuffling has nothing to do exclusively with Tajpuria’s murder as most of these transferred officials were posted in Mandoli jail headquarters,” said a senior Tihar jail official, asking not to be named.

The last such transfer, the official said, was done on May 11 when 99 officers were posted at different jails.

On Thursday, the HC sought to know the reason behind the delay in action by jail officers when Tajpuria was being attacked. The 33-year-old was allegedly stabbed to death by members of a rival gang inside the prison. The incident was captured in the CCTV cameras installed inside the jail.

The officer cited above said that the jail administration had already submitted the status report to the court, which stated that the prison authorities are trying to gather information from the Delhi Police’s special cell and crime branch to help pre-empt and prevent similar attacks. “We have also mentioned that there is one TV to analyse the footages 975 CCTVs in the jail,” the official said.