New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) The CBI has informed the Delhi High Court that it has taken over the investigation into the alleged murder of inmate Ankit Gujjar in Tihar jail and is looking into several aspects including certain online payments by the deceased's brother and the alleged acceptance of cash by jail staff on one occasion.

Justice Mukta Gupta Thursday allowed Gujjar's family members, who filed a petition for transfer of probe from Delhi Police and alleged harassment by the jail officials for not meeting their demands for money, to respond to the status reports submitted by the CBI as well as the Director General (Prisons).

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The prison authority, in its report, has stated that the work of installation and commissioning of CCTV system in all prisons was complete and each jail has also been provided with body-worn cameras in case the CCTVs are not functional.

“At present, 6,944 new CCTV cameras have been installed and are functional in all prisons of Delhi. The recording of these cameras is preserved for 1 month at two different locations viz. one at jail itself and other at prison headquarters,” the report states.

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Gujjar, 29, was found dead inside his cell in Tihar jail on August 4.

In its status report, the CBI stated that it has been established that several UPI payments were made from the account of the brother of the deceased and the beneficiaries would be examined after the online payment platform Paytm' response is perused.

One witness disclosed that in March, one of the jail staff received cash delivered by him on behalf of the deceased and the investigation on that front was underway, it added.

The report disclosed that 27 witnesses, including 11 inmates, have been examined so far and the alleged weapons of assault, that is five polycarbonate lathis (sticks), have been taken into possession.

Witnesses have claimed that there was a fist-fight between the deceased and a jail official, a Deputy Superintendent, and that one of them also witnessed the deceased being beaten along with two others, it stated.

The report further said that there were PCR calls by the brother and sister of the deceased in relation to the brutal beating and the alleged murder and witnesses including the Tihar jail officials, who were on duty on the night of August 3, are being examined.

DG (Prisons), in his status report, added that a departmental enquiry for being “negligent in performing duties” has been initiated against the jail superintendent who did not permit a Delhi police official to enter the jail in relation to a PCR call made in relation to the incident.

The prison authority said that appropriate action has also been taken against the junior doctor on-duty and medical officer.

CBI informed that as per the opinion received from AIIMS the injuries of the deceased were unlikely due to minimum coercion.

The report further states that investigation with respect to the closure of CCTV and footage seized by Delhi police was ongoing and relevant samples have been sent for forensic examination.

The court is also assured by the prison authority that it has been reiterated that the entry of police will not be denied in jails in case of an inquiry or investigation into the commission of a cognizable offence.

In September, the court had transferred investigation into the death of Ankit Gujjar from Delhi police to CBI after opining that the deceased “lost his life to custodial violence”.

Saying that it was unfathomable that the jail doctor failed to see the multiple injuries on the deceased, the court had opined that an investigation was needed into not only the offence of brutally beating the deceased but also into “the role of jail doctors in not providing proper treatment at the right time”.

The court had also observed that the DIG Prisons “failed to notice the connivance/laxity” of the jail deputy superintendent who did not permit the local police to go inside the jail to inquire into the PCR call made in relation to the beating of the deceased on the intervening night of August 3-4.

In the petition for transfer of investigation from the Delhi police, the family of the deceased inmate, represented by advocate Mehmood Pracha, had alleged that Gujjar was being harassed by the jail officials as he was “unable to meet their regularly increasing demands for money” and was murdered “as a part of a pre-planned conspiracy”.

The petition had claimed that the jail authorities in Tihar were operating an “organised extortion syndicate” and the police was trying to manipulate the investigation in order to save and shield the culprits.

The matter would be heard next on December 9.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)