Five days after receiving President’s award, Bhondsi jail SP booked for extortion attempt

Five days after Bhondsi jail superintendent Harinder Singh was awarded the President’s Medal for meritorious service on Independence Day, the officer and three of his subordinates were booked on charges of extortion attempt and assault on a prison inmate.

Five days after Bhondsi jail superintendent Harinder Singh was awarded the President’s Medal for meritorious service on Independence Day, the officer and three of his subordinates were booked on charges of extortion attempt and assault on a prison inmate. The accused were booked on Thursday at Bhondsi police station on a court order. The accused have, however, denied the charges.

According to the FIR, the jail officials demanded Rs 5 lakh from an inmate for his safety inside the premises (HT File Photo)

The complainant is Dharampal Singh of Baldhan Khurd village in Rewari whose son Rakesh Kumar, 30, was lodged in Bhondsi jail in connection with a 2011 murder case.

According to his FIR, the jail officials demanded Rs 5 lakh from his son for his safety inside the jail premises. After a court hearing on July 11, jail officials allegedly again asked Rakesh about the money, but he refused.

Singh has said in his complaint that the jail superintendent, deputy superintendent Ramesh Kumar, and constables Baljeet and Raj Singh assaulted his son in the superintendent’s office and threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to pay.

Singh said his nephew Harish, who is also lodged in Bhondsi jail in the same murder case, informed him about the alleged assault through a public call phone in the jail.

“We took the matter to a court in Rewari. It ordered a medical test by a board which found 21 injuries on Rakesh. We approached the CM’s office, the state human rights commission, and senior police officials but to no avail,” said Singh. On August 9, a court in Sohna ordered an FIR in the matter. According to Singh, communication of the order was intentionally delayed and it reached the Bhondsi police station only on August 18 after intervention of a lawyer.

The police filed FIR under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 384 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat of lodging false cases), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, said investigating officer assistant sub-inspector Nasir Hussain.

Harinder Singh said the case is fallout of the strictness in the jail. He added that Rakesh is a murder convict and was shifted to Narnaul jail in Mahendergarh in first week of August after his conviction.

Singh, 40, was awarded the President’s Medal for meritorious service for implementation of a software designed to create a database of Bhondsi jail’s inmates.

“He (Rakesh) was booked in six cases of using mobile phone and narcotics inside the jail premises,” said Singh, adding that the investigation would clear the allegations against him.