The turf war between lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and the Arvind Kejriwal Government refused to subside on Monday while the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sought a report from Tihar jail officials on the jailbreak incident.

Ordering a magisterial enquiry, the lieutenant-Governor directed Deputy Commissioner (South West) Ankur Garg to submit a report about the incident, in which two Tihar inmates have managed to escape. On the other hand, Delhi Jail Minister Satyendra Jain has asked Deputy Commissioner (West) Jaglan Singh Balwan to conduct an enquiry citing jurisdiction. The Minister has also sought report within a week.

In his order, The lieutenant-Governor asked District Magistrate (South West) Ankur Garg to conduct an enquiry into “wall break, digging of tunnel and escape of prisoners” from the jail. Jung said the magisterial enquiry, to be completed within a week, would look into the factors and circumstances leading to the escape of two inmates, review comprehensively the security set-up of Delhi prisons, fix responsibility for the lapses that led to the escape and suggest remedial measures for the prison administration to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

On the contrary, the Delhi Jail Minister has directed Deputy Commissioner (West) Jaglan Singh Balwan to probe the Tihar incident and submit a report within a seven day. When asked, Jain told The Pioneer that Tihar Jail comes under the Delhi Government purview and he has power to issue order for magisterial enquiry into the incident.

Both the Deputy Commissioners were not available for comment in this matter. Meanwhile MHA has also sought report in the matter.

According to sources, Jain was not happy with the lieutenant-Governor during doctor’s strike few days back. The lieutenant-Governor had reportedly refused to sign an order imposing ‘ESMA’ on the striking doctors saying that as the proposal was made without approval of Principal Secretary (Home) Dharampal.

According to the NCT Delhi Act, the lieutenant-Governor is empowered to issue direction pertaining to magisterial enquiry. For any magisterial enquiry, the Delhi Government will have to take permission/approval from the lieutenant-Governor. It would be pertinent to mention that Jung had turned down the request of the AAP Government to hold magisterial enquiries into the alleged rape of a Nigerian woman in a moving car and into a demonstration by hundreds of people and two AAP legislators in Burari in March this year.

The lieutenant-Governor is said to have made it clear that magisterial enquiries cannot be instituted in these cases.

In the rape case, the sources had said, no magisterial enquiry was required as all the four accused had already been arrested. The AAP Government had ordered its Home Department to set up magisterial enquiries into an incident of violence allegedly involving AAP MlAs Sanjiv Jha and Akhilesh Pati Tripathi at the Burari police station and the gang rape of a Nigerian woman in East Delhi.