Ram Singh's suicide is not the only incident to cast a shadow on Tihar Jail.
Delhi's notorious cocaine peddler Naquibullah Ali better known as 'Cocaine Ali', an Afghan national, died under mysterious circumstances in Tihar, much like Sanjay Babu (nicknamed the 'Butcher of Inderlok'), who was accused of murdering seven members of a family in Inderlok on July 31, 2005. The high-profile case of 'Biscuit King' Rajan Pillai who died of liver cirrhosis in the high-security prison is yet another incident to mar Tihar's image.
However, despite all these cases, the so-called reforms in Tihar are yet to be put in place. To make matters worse, there is an organised gang of extortionists who use blades to telling effect to extort money inside Tihar.
Sher Singh Rana, the accused of dacoit queen turned politician Phoolan Devi's murder had escaped from the jail premises. Prior to his dramatic escape, notorious international killer Charles Shobhraj had authored one of the most daring escapes from Tihar. Things have not changed much in Tihar vis-à-vis the safety and security of the prisoners though Tihar bosses take pride in selling furniture, bakery products and clothing made by the inmates.
Ram Singh's suspicious suicide is not an isolated incident as other inmates such as Harish Kumar; Amit, Santosh Kumar, Vinod and Ajay Kumar had died under highly mysterious circumstances few years back. Findings in these five death cases were so damning that the concerned magistrate had ordered registration of criminal cases against guilty officials.
Director General, Delhi Prisons, Vimla Mehra was sashaying at ramp on Saturday last to promote the clothes designed by Tihar inmates but was oblivious of the fact that Ram Singh, the main accused of Decemebr16 gang rape was under tremendous mental duress and was in conflict with himself. Ram Singh's death on Monday morning had once again exposed the frailties of Tihar administration.
Now the questions are being asked whether Tihar administration had engaged a psychiatrist to assess the mental condition of Ram Singh. How and when Tihar officials found that Ram Singh and his gang had started behaving normally and the so called "suicide alert" was lifted. Tihar officials claimed that three inmates were housed alongwith Ram Singh to keep an eye on his suicidal tendencies and when it really mattered the most, they were caught napping and were in deep slumber. "Keeping the sensitive nature of the crime, there should have been a tight security for Ram Singh inside the jail premises. Jail administration could have spared dedicated security guards for maintaining vigil rather having a solitary guard to look after inmates of ward no-5 in jail no-3" , said a Delhi Police official. What is even galling is the fact that there was no CCTV coverage in and around the barrack though there was a camera in the passage but that was of little use.
It would be pertinent here to mention the two alleged suicides of two under trails who were done in by the careless Tihar administration. Sanjay Babu (28), arrested for murdering seven members of a family in Inderlok had allegedly hanged himself to death in his cell in jail no-1 on November, 10, 2006. Babu was named the Butcher of Inderlok as five of those murdered by him were children. Babu's life was important as the mystery behind the brutal killings was yet to be told to the people. The Post Mortem report had found "deep injuries on his scrotum, swollen massively with contused skin caused by a blunt object". This was enough to cause death under normal circumstances. Despite the damning PM report, the death was passed on as a mere suicide and the case was buried deep.
Same was the case in the mysterious death of Cocaine Ali. He was found dead on December, 12, 2007. Prior to his alleged suicide, Ali had written a detailed complaint against the then Deputy and Assistant Superintendent of Jail no-4 and an international drug smuggler who was housed in the same jail. Ali's letter to DG Tihar was written by one Aneel, an official of Military Intelligence about the alleged extortion by the jail officials and the international drug lord lodged in jail no-4. Tihar authorities had then claimed that Ali had died of drug overdose but the PM report had no traces of any drug in his body.
Ram Singh's alleged suicide is the latest in the series and may well open the Pandora's Box if investigated in a fair manner. The onus is now on prison authorities to ensure the safety and security of other co-accused persons, sources said on Monday.