NEW DELHI: Gangster Rajendra Nikalje, popularly known as Chhota Rajan, has been admitted to AIIMS after testing positive for Covid-19. Rajan was arrested in 2018 and booked under around 70 cases of extortion and murder. He tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.
Before being hospitalised, Rajan had been lodged in solitary confinement, under heavy security. He is not allowed to speak to other prisoners. Prison officials suspect he may have contacted the virus from asymptomatic jail officers. The 62-yearold was convicted in 2018 and imprisoned for life for the murder of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.
Apart from Rajan, nearly 230 prisoners and at least 60 prison staff have tested positive for Covid-19. Most of them are recovering. In the women’s jail, about 47 have tested positive. Tihar Jail is a containment zone in the second wave of the pandemic.
Gangsters Shahbuddin and Neeraj Bawana, who were also lodged in solitary confinement, had tested positive earlier. Umar Khalid, who was arrested in connection with the Delhi riots last year, also tested positive recently. He is in isolation inside the jail complex. Tihar is one of the most crowded and congested jails with 20,663 prisoners.