Tihar Jail’s prison welfare officer caught with illegal substances inside jail

According to officials, welfare officer Vicky Rathi was caught on December 12, during his regular inspection and meeting round at Jail number 3 in Tihar.

ADelhi prisons welfare officer was held and removed from his duty inside Tihar Jail after he was caught with more than 400 grams of illegal substances last week, said officials on Wednesday.

According to jail officials, it was the first time that a jail officer was asked to “surrender” his jail duties. (PTI)

According to officials, welfare officer Vicky Rathi was caught on December 12, during his regular inspection and meeting round at Jail Number 3 in Tihar.

A senior officer at Jail Number 3 said, “Rathi has been attached with Tihar for a long time, which is why there are some instances where he is not even frisked. However, we had tightened our security measures and during his routine checking and frisking, we found that he was carrying something in his shoes. It was picked up when he passed through the machine. His shoes were scanned and we found he was carrying substances such as tobacco and other contraband substances of almost 450-500 gms. He was held by guards and sent for questioning.”

According to jail officials, it was the first time that a jail officer was asked to “surrender” his jail duties.

A senior officer in Delhi Prisons HQ told HT, “The matter was immediately taken up by superintendent jail Number 3, Pramod Gupta and a department enquiry was initiated. Rathi was questioned by senior officers. An enquiry was also done inside jail and it was found that tobacco and other substances were being sold by an inmate who’s a history sheeter. Rathi was said to be working with him. We are now questioning inmates as well.”

There are at least seven to eight welfare officers in each jail complex in Delhi. The welfare officers help inmates with counselling, legal advice, legal aid, NGO help, getting inmates clothes and other services/resources.

The Delhi Police said a formal complaint/case will be made by the department of social welfare. “We have asked jail officials to improve their security measures since family members of inmates, lawyers and now a welfare officer have been caught,” said an officer.

HT reached out to the directorate general of prisons and superintendent of Jail number 3, however, no response was received till the time of going to print.