New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) Delhi LG VK Saxena has sanctioned an enquiry by the CBI against a former jail superintendent of Tihar prison in connection with a "racket" that allegedly extorted Rs 10 crore from jailed money laundering accused Sukash Chandrashekhar, Raj Niwas officials said on Friday.

The matter is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CB) and a request for prosecution sanction was made to the LG, who is the competent authority in the matter, through Delhi government's directorate of vigilance (DoV), they said.

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"The LG has sanctioned the CBI Inquiry u/s 17A of Prevention of Corruption (POC) Act, 1988, against Raj Kumar, the then Superintendent of Jail No 4, Tihar prison complex," they said.

The CBI had in November last year also sought sanction from the Delhi LG to file a case against former minister Satyendar Jain for allegedly "extorting" crores of rupees from various "high profile prisoners", including Chandrashekhar, to enable them to live comfortably in prison, they said.

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The central agency is charging allegations of Chandrashekhar that Rs 10 crore were extorted from him in installments during 2018-21, for providing his comfortable, peaceful stay in the jail.

"The accused jail superintendent was a close associate of then director general of prisons and aided him in extorting money from Chandrashekhar and even himself tried to extort money from him through PayTM mode," claimed Raj Niwas officials said.

The CBI earlier claimed that "a high level corruption and extortion racket" was being run in the jails of Delhi in connivance with top prison officers and private persons.

Jain is currently out of jail on an interim bail granted by the Supreme Court on medical grounds.

He was arrested by the enforcement directorate (ED) in a money laundering case in May 2022.

(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)