NEW DELHI: Senior officers of the ITBP and the Tamil Nadu Police that are deployed in Tihar Jail met the Delhi Prisons Director General Sanjay Beniwal on Monday to discuss ways to address security concerns in the wake of the brutal killing of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya inside the prison premises last week, officials said.
The meetings come after Beniwal wrote to the heads of the security agencies whose personnel are deployed at the Tihar, one of the largest prisons in Asia, as part of security arrangements. “Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Indo-Tibetan Border Police Bhanwar Singh met DG Prisons today. The two senior officials discussed various issues including security concerns in Tihar,” a jail official said.
H M Jayaram, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) of Tamil Nadu Police, also met the DG Prisons to discuss the matter, he said. After meeting the senior officials, Beniwal said that the Tamil Nadu DGP had sent the ADGP to assess and see what improvements are needed at the Tihar Jail. He added that the meeting was productive.
When asked about the steps being taken, “At every step dos and dont’s are being reviewed. We will take lessons from our mistakes and will take steps to strengthen security.” “We reviewed the security and I would say it’s a work in progress. It’s an ongoing process and I feel we will improve by learning from mistakes,” Beniwal said. Tajpuriya was assaulted with improvised weapons allegedly by four members of the Gogi gang inside the high-security prison on Tuesday morning.
He was still alive and was being carried away by the prison security personnel when the accused attacked him for the second time, video footage of the incident showed. In the footage, it appeared that the security personnel remained mute spectators while the assailants kept attacking the gangster.
Seven personnel of the Tamil Nadu Special Police (TNSP), who were on duty, have been suspended and transferred to Tamil Nadu, according to jail officials. On Monday, Delhi High Court questioned the jail authorities over the recovery of four knives from the Tihar premises where Tajpuriya was stabbed to death. It asked why no preventive or remedial action was taken by authorities when the incident took place as the entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed in jail premises. Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Director General of Prisons (Delhi), the Delhi government and the Commissioner of Police.
Will learn from our mistakes, says DG
“At every step dos and dont’s are being reviewed. We will take lessons from our mistakes and will take steps to strengthen security,” DG Prisons Sanjay Beniwal said after the meeting. “We reviewed security and I would say it’s a work in progress. I feel we will improve by learning from mistakes,” he added.