Tihar prisoner accuses staff of 'using him' to pass around mobile phones to other inmates

An undertrial prisoner at Tihar Jail has accused the prison staff of “using him” to the pass around mobile phones to other inmates. The prison officials, however, refuted the allegation.

In a video circulated on social media, the prisoner claimed that he "followed orders from officials" so that he too could make calls while lodged inside the jail.

However, the jail official refuted the allegation and said that the under trial was caught red handed while he was passing the mobile phone to another inmate.

"He is an inmate lodged in jail number 1. He is a habitual criminal with cases of robbery and other offences against him. He has been in and out of jail many times," a senior jail official said.

"Sometime back, the jail staff in Jail number 1 had foiled an attempt of throwing some mobile phones into the jail. The CCTV footage revealed involvement of the under trial. Appropriate action as per jail manual is being taken against him," Director General (Tihar) Sandeep Goel said.

To put counter pressure on jail staff and for his vested interests, he has come up with this video. Action will be taken against him for this act as well as for the possession of a mobile phone, which is a prohibited item, they said.

"In the video, he is leveling allegations against some jail officials which are baseless. One phone has been recovered from his possession and search is on to recover the other phones too. We are trying to find out from where he has procured the phones. We are also trying to ascertain if any staff was involved," the officer said.