After Tillu Tajpuria’s murder in jail, Tihar may ship gang members out of Delhi

The police will also identify imprisoned gangsters susceptible to attacks by rival groups and shift them out of Delhi to ensure their safety

Gangsters incarcerated in Delhi’s three jails may be moved to prisons in other states, in a measure aimed at snapping criminal syndicates built and operated from behind bars, said officials aware of a plan that comes in the aftermath of imprisoned criminal Tillu Tajpuria’s murder outside his Tihar cell by members of a rival group.

The plan that comes in the aftermath of imprisoned criminal Tillu Tajpuria’s murder outside his Tihar cell by members of a rival group. (PTI)

The police will also identify imprisoned gangsters susceptible to attacks by rival groups and shift them out of Delhi to ensure their safety, said the officials, citing a report submitted to the state government and lieutenant governor after Tillu’s May 2 murder.

The report, put together by Delhi’s director general of prisons Sanjay Beniwal, said transferring prisoners to other states will help “break the nexus of such dreaded criminals” in the city.

To be sure, such a move will require amendments to the Transfer of Prisoners Act, 1950, which currently says, “Where any person is confined in a prison in a State, under sentence of death, or under, or in lieu of, a sentence of imprisonment or transportation, or in default of payment of a fine, or in default of giving security for keeping the peace or for maintaining good behaviour, the Government of that State may, with the consent of the Government of any other State, by order, provide for the removal of the prisoner from that prison to any prison in the other State”.

The amendment process will need approval from the ministry of home affairs after which undertrials too may be shifted to jails in other states. In 2019, over a dozen suspected militants lodged in jails in Jammu and Kathua were shifted to Haryana for security reasons. Also, 26 prisoners booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) in J&K were transferred to the Agra Central Jail from Srinagar following the abrogation of Article 370. In 2018, nearly 40 terrorists and alleged sympathisers were shifted from Srinagar to prisons outside the state — a step taken after the escape of LeT’s Mohammed Naveed Jhatt from a Srinagar hospital.

“Gangsters have become a threat to law and order inside and outside the prison. The major problem is that the gangs routinely shift their affiliations and recruit fresh members who prison officials are unaware of,” Beniwal told HT, underlining that Delhi’s jails are vastly overcrowded, with little infrastructure available to segregate criminals from their rivals.

“The existing 1950 Act allows convicts to be transferred only to jails in other states. It doesn’t permit transfer of undertrial prisoners,” he said.

“We’ve also proposed the inter-cadre transfer of jail officials from states under the Union Territory cadre. If administrative and police officers can be transferred to states like Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, why can’t jail officials from these states come to Delhi?” he asked.

Delhi’s three prisons – Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini – house 20,558 inmates, against their sanctioned capacity of 10,026.

HT has a copy of the report.

On May 2, Tillu was stabbed to death in Delhi’s Tihar jail by four inmates, who are members of a gang previously run by notorious criminal Jeetender Gogi, in an elaborate operation and vicious attack that has once again underlined the tenuous security apparatus in the country’s largest prison.

On May 2 this year, four accused stabbed gangster Tillu Tajpuria to death in Tihar Jail. This attack, however, was not an exception. On April 14, another gangster Prince Tewatia was killed by his friend-turned-foe Attaur Rehman aka Atwa and Vinay Sharma following a fight.

The May 2 attack was planned to avenge gangster Jitender Gogi’s September 2021 murder inside the Rohini court, by associates of Tillu’s gang.

CCTV footage from the jail that HT has accessed showed that the attack unfolded in front of armed prison guards, who did little to intervene as the four men took turns to stab the 33-year-old gangster roughly 150 times.

Officers from the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TNSP) are deputed to ensure safety within Tihar jail as well as other jails in the Capital.

Beniwal’s report said the TNSP personnels’ inability to control the situation led to Tajpuria’s death.

“The director general of Tamil Nadu Police has been requested to take strict action against the erring officials, who were deployed in high security ward (HSW) on the day of incident and stood as mute spectators instead of ensuring safety and security of the jail inmate,” it said.

The report said the Delhi Police chief has also been requested to gather information from the force’s special cell and crime branch to help pre-empt and prevent similar attacks.

The director of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also been asked to share with the police the details of people they have arrested and imprisoned in Tihar Jail to ensure they are kept safe.

The Delhi Police in 2022 outlined a similar proposal to shift imprisoned gangsters out of the city. However, that move fell through because the matter is still pending with the ministries concerned for approval.

A senior Delhi Police officer aware of the plan said shifting prisoners will effectively break the nexus between inmates, their associates outside jail and jail officials.

“Tihar alone is home to leaders of nearly 25 big gangs. With many of their gang members also lodged with them, Tihar has become a volatile space in terms of security,” said the officer, asking not to be named.