32 Tihar jail officers booked for allegedly colluding with former Unitech promoters

The Delhi Police have filed a case against 32 officials of the Tihar jail for allegedly colluding with the former promoters of real-estate company Unitech Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.

The officers allegedly helped the jailed entrepreneurs run an office from inside the prison, the Hindustan Times reported.

Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra had been arrested in 2017 for allegedly siphoning off over Rs 5,000 crore from home buyers in the company’s “Wild Flower” and “Anthea” projects.

The realty firm failed to complete housing projects in Greater Noida and Gurugram in the National Capital Region, and did not refund the money to buyers along with interest. It had promised to hand over possession of the flats in 2012.

During their time in prison, the brothers have been accused of “engaging in illegal activities” by violating the rules in the jail manual, transferring assets and “dissipating the proceeds of crime”, influencing witnesses, and trying to derail the inquiry, according to The Indian Express.

In August, the Enforcement Directorate had told the Supreme Court that the brothers used the jail premises to move the “proceeds of crime”, according to the Hindustan Times. The court had then directed Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana to investigate the accusations against Tihar jail officials.

Asthana submitted a report to the Supreme Court on September 28, in which he named the prison officials accused of colluding with the brothers, according to The Indian Express.

On October 6, the court ordered that the officials should be suspended from their positions.

“We have registered an FIR [First Information Report] with the Crime Branch under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC [Indian Penal Code],” Delhi Police’s Public Relation Officer Chinmoy Biswal said. “During the enquiry, names of 32 officials from Tihar jail number 7 have come up. They were found to be complicit with the Chandra brothers in this matter,” said Biswal.

In August, the Supreme Court ordered that Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra should be separated and moved to the Taloja and Arthur Road prisons, reported PTI.