Jail 'extortion': CBI seeks sanction to file FIR against Satyendar Jain, ex-DG prisons

The request seeking sanction against Jain and jail officer Raj Kumar was sent to the office of Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, while for suspended IPS Goel and retired IAS Mukesh Prasad, the central agency has approached the Union Home Ministry, they said. In a statement, the Aam Aadmi Party termed the move "nothing but the mockery of law".

"AAP categorically denies any association, communication let alone any money transaction between Mr Jain and Sukesh Chandrasekhar or any of his associates," the party said. Goel, a 1989-batch IPS officer, was suspended by the Home Ministry last year after allegations of extortion were levelled against him, they said.

The agency has alleged that it has "source information" that Jain, Goel, Prasad and Kumar were extorting crores of rupees from various "high-profile prisoners", including Chandrashekhar facing charges of duping a large number of people, to enable them to live comfortably in prison, officials said.

Questions sent to Goel seeking his reaction remained unanswered. The CBI needs the sanction before filing an FIR or a case against a public servant under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI, while seeking mandatory sanction from Saxena to proceed against Jain and former jail superintendent Raj Kumar, has alleged that "a high-level corruption and extortion racket" was being run in Delhi jails in connivance with Goel and Prasad along with associate officers, private persons and accomplices.

"They worked as a syndicate for the same," the CBI alleged in its letter to Saxena. It said it has "source information" that Jain allegedly "extorted and received Rs 10 crore from jail inmate Chandrashekhar in various tranches during 2018-21 either himself or through his accomplices, as protection money," to enable the alleged conman to live a peaceful and comfortable life in jail.

Chandrashekhar is lodged in a jail here on charges of money laundering and duping several people. "Goel and Mukesh Prasad also extorted and received Rs 12.50 crore from jail inmate Sukesh Chandrashekhar. The amounts were extorted and received by them in various tranches during 2019-22 either themselves or through their accomplices, as protection money, to enable inmate Sukesh Chandrashekhar to live peacefully and comfortably in jail," it alleged.

The extortion was also carried out by Goel and Prasad from "other high-profile prisoners lodged in jail as protection money" to allow them to live in jail safely and comfortably, the agency alleged. The CBI alleged that Raj Kumar, the then jail superintendent of Central Jail-4, Tihar was a close associate of Goel and aided him in extorting money from Chandrashekhar. Jain, Goel, Prasad and Kumar "misused their official positions" as public servants and "extended undue favour and advantage" to Chandrashekhar and other high-profile inmates in the jails of Delhi "in lieu of valuable considerations from the inmates", the agency alleged.