The Tihar jail superintendent who has been shunted to Andamans over allegations of serving high tea to former OC chief Suresh Kalmadi in prison, has added a new twist to the controversy.
The former Tihar jailor S. C. Bhardwaj has accused the trial judge who " discovered" Kalmadi having a free run inside the prison, of " behaving in the most unethical, unprofessional manner against all norms of propriety and probity", during his visit to the jail.
In a letter dated July 8, written to the Delhi High Court registrar general and the home ministry, Bhardwaj has sought an inquiry into the " behavior" of the judge alleging that the report submitted by him had a " hidden motive" and that by the means of a negative report against the superintendent he only tried to shield himself.
The letter, a copy of which is available with M AIL TODAY, accuses the trial judge Brijesh Kumar Garg of bringing an unauthorised person along with him on jail inspection. Moreover, the judge deliberately tried to hide the identity of this person and also asked the jail officials to offer a gift pack to the person accompanying him.
"It is most inappropriate on the part of the visiting judge to take any unauthorised person into the highly sensitive high security ward and special security ward. This has caused serious security hazard which is beyond imagination. The high security ward of Jail No 4 mostly consists of dreaded terrorists. Also the hon'ble visiting judge, did not to allow the jail official to record the entry of the said Puneet Mittal into the visitor book after his identity was made known during the last leg of inspection at ward no. 15 when one of the under trials Abhay Srivastav (former chairman NALCO) happened to recognise him and addressed him by his correct identity," the letter reads.
On the issue of having tea with Kalmadi, the report says that under no jail manual "serving tea" to an under trial is an offence. Moreover, he has explained the circumstances in which the tea was offered to the suspended OC chief. "On June 30th, at about 11.30 am Kalmadi had sent a message through jail ward in charge requesting for a meeting with him to discuss his health problems as he was sent for medical examination at DDU Hospital, a day before. Kalmadi is a patient of multiple ailments including heart, hypertension and diabetes. As required by my duties and rules, I summoned Kalmadi to my room to have the first hand information. In the mean time Brijesh Kumar Garg, additional district judge entered my room along with one person. The Judge was extended the due courtesy and he introduced the accompanied person as his colleague. He started conversation with Kalmadi and inquired about the status of his case. Extending hospitality I offered tea to the hon'ble visiting judge and his colleague. As a matter of courtesy, tea was also offered to the under- trial Suresh Kalmadi who accepted the same. After having had the tea, I along with the visiting judge and his colleague left the room and went inside the jail for the purpose of inspection," the letter reads.
When contacted, advocate Puneet Mittal accepted that he did accompany the judge to Tihar Jail but refuted other allegations. "I exchanged cards (visiting) with the jail superintendent. But I am not sure if my name was written in the record book," he said.
Mittal said he had sought official permission from the judge to accompany him to Tihar. "A judge has all the authority to decide who he wants to take along with him. If the superintendent had found my presence objectionable he should have restrained me from going inside," Mittal added.
The letter also accuses Garg of deliberately leaking the report to the media only to tarnish the superintendent's image. It also wrongly mentions that Mittal's wife works with Times of India who works for the Hindustan Times.
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