Three Tihar prisoners, including a murder convict and an IIT passout, appeared in the UPSC examination held last Sunday inside the jail. The three inmates appeared in the exam after being granted permission by the court for the same.
The three inmates — Siddharth Singh Sidar from Chhattisgarh, Amit Jha from Bihar and Sandeep from Uttar Pradesh — undertook the civil services preliminary examination, 2011 at Tihar on June 12.
Sidar is an IITian from Kharagpur whereas Jha came to Delhi to prepare for the examination before they were jailed. All three are lodged inside the Jail No. 3.
Sidar, an accused in a cheating case is lodged in the jail, whereas, Sandeep, a murder convict, is undergoing rigorous life imprisonment.
“Three inmates of my jail have appeared for the civil services preliminary examination last Sunday. Two are undertrials and one is a convict. If they qualify, they will get a call for the mains. And we hope that at least two of them will make it to the mains,” said the superintendent, Jail No. 3, M.K. Dwivedi.
The results of the prelims exam are expected to be out in about 45 days.
In 2009, a convict in a rape case had appeared for the civil services examination for the first time and was set free by the court after he qualified. He is posted as a deputy collector in Chandausi in UP.
“They are not certain about their release but unfortunately only three of them could make it to the examination hall. Of the remaining three, one was released two months back, the other was not permitted by the court and the third one had not prepared enough,” said Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta adding that without any coaching facility the three aspirants were relying on self-study.
Sidar, who once trained IAS aspirants, quit his job and came to Delhi to prepare for the IAS exam.
He used to run tutorial classes in Mukherjee Nagar area for IIT aspirants before he got entangled in a cheating case.
Jha also came to Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. However, he unfortunately was held on kidnapping charges.