Tihar offers little to VIP guests

May 21, 2011 |

Age Corespondent

New Delhi

Tihar Jail is currently home to a clutch of VIP inmates facing legal proceedings in corruption cases as investigative agencies have been granted rare permission to go after the “big fish”.

The Tihar Jail complex, home to militants and murderers mostly, offers little in terms of comfort for its new white-collar guests, who are forced to share tiny cells with basic toilets in sweltering heat.
Prison chief Neeraj Kumar while speaking to the media earlier in the week said: “The powerful connections of new charges, which include the country’s former telecom minister and the head of the Indian Olympic Association, have won them no special treatment.”
“It’s just a speculation in the media that we have a VIP jail,” Mr Kumar said from his office at Tihar where 10,000 inmates, including 470 women and 500 foreigners, are squeezed into facilities designed to hold half this figure. “We have not provided any special privileges to prisoners nor have they asked for any,” he added.
The biggest names in the list of inmates are DMK MP Kanimozhi, who was taken in judicial custody on Friday in connection with the 2G scam, former telecom minister A. Raja and former CWG Organising Committee chairman, Suresh Kalmadi. Five top businessmen, including a billionaire property developer, are also behind bars awaiting their trial.
The usual day for inmates begins at 6 am when they present themselves for a headcount and then queue up for two pieces of bread, biscuits and tea for breakfast.

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