Jail officials refuse to let Uddhav meet Sanjay Raut

Prison department officials on Wednesday confirmed that the superintendent of Arthur Road central jail NB Vaychal has on Monday received a call from a Shiv Sena functionary close to Thackeray

Mumbai The Arthur Road prison authorities have refused Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s request to let him meet Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who has been lodged in the central jail in connection with the Patra Chawl money laundering scam.

The jail superintendent also informed the Sena leader that even if permission to meet Raut was secured from the court, Thackeray will have to meet Raut like other prisoners in a facility for ‘mulakaat’ right outside the jail’s main gate (Bhushan Koyande)

The jail authority informed the former chief minister that as only family members and lawyers are allowed to meet jail inmates during the scheduled hours, Thackeray would first have to secure permission from the concerned court to meet Raut.

Prison department officials on Wednesday confirmed that the superintendent of Arthur Road central jail NB Vaychal has on Monday received a call from a Shiv Sena functionary close to Thackeray.

“The Sena leader had informed the jail superintendent that the party chief Thackeray wished to meet Raut in jail and requested him to allow the meeting to be held at the superintendent’s office. Vaychal, however, turned down the request saying he cannot facilitate any such meeting. If the former CM wants to meet Raut, then he will have to first obtain permission from the concerned court,” a senior jail official said.

The jail superintendent also informed the Sena leader that even if permission to meet Raut was secured from the court, Thackeray will have to meet Raut like other prisoners in a facility for ‘mulakaat’ right outside the jail’s main gate and within the prison department’s compound. “No VIP treatment would be given to any prisoner,” the jail official added.

As per jail manual, only the family members (blood relations) and lawyers can meet the inmates and that too only in ‘mulakaat’ rooms and only during the scheduled time. The mulakaat is allowed only once a week and can be allowed for five to 20 minutes only.

Friends and people’s representatives can also meet a prisoner, but only after securing due permission from the concerned court, a DIG rank jail official said.

Raut is in jail after the Enforcement Directorate arrested him late in the night on July 31 in the Patra Chawl money laundering case. He is presently in judicial custody.