NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister V.C. Shukla is believed to have asked a top Delhi government official and the former Inspector General (Prisons), Ms. Kiran Bedi, to give preferential treatment to S.K. Jain, prime accused in the Hawala case, while he was lodged in Tihar Jail last April.

‘You are not wrong” was the cryptic reply of Ms. Kiran Bedi, when she was ‘asked whether Mr, V.C. Shukla had telephoned (0 intercede on behalf of ‘one of her prisoners Surrender Kumar Jain, When she was the 10 (Prisons).

Ms. Bedi said that the Delhi governs ment and the Center had put pressure on her and her subordinates in the case of S.K. Jain. “In fact, one of the subordinate staff was found 10 be conduit for S.K. Jain and was reprimanded for giving special treatment to him,” she said, The jail official admitted helping S.K. Jain and even apologized to the authorities for his conduct. MS, Bedi claimed that this incident was a part of ‘Tihar jail records. S.K. Jain was arrested on April 14, 1995 by the Enforcement Directorate officials and was sent to Tihar jail the next day by a local court.

On the day Jain was remanded to judicial custody, Mr.V.C, Shukla is understood to have contracted a top Delhi government official on telephone. He is believed to have exhorted him to make S.K. Jain’s stay comfortable at ‘Tihar jail. This official was earlier working under Mr. Shukla when he was the minister for Water Resources; Mr. Shukla is understood to have made a similar request to Ms. Kiran Bedi also. However, Mr. Shukla could not be contacted for his comments. ‘The official who was rattled by the request, made discreet inquiries about various provisions of the Jail manual to “accommodate” such a plea, But later the official [s believed to have refused to entertain the request.

The CBI has decoded the initials “VCS” as that of Mr, V.C. Shukla from. The Jain diary, Mr. Shukla is believed by the CBI 10 has been a recipient of payments from the Jain brothers. Besides Mr, Shukla, several other influential politicians are also understood to have interceded on behalf of the infamous S.K. Jain with the Tihar Jail authorities, Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Madan Lal Khurana, and state minister for Jail, Mr. Harsaran Singh Balli, are also believed to have telephoned the Tihar authorities. Sourees confirm that Mr. Khurana and Mr. Balli had requested the DGI (Prisons), Mr. Jayadev Sarangi, to take “good tare” of S.K. Jain.

Mr. Khurana and Mr, Balli when contacted, denied that they had made any telephone calls to Mr, Sarangi in case of S.K. Jain.

Although Mr. Sarangi denied what he had received any calls from Mr, Khurana and Ball) in S.K. Jains connection, some of his senior officers, who refused to be named, said the ministers had indeed telephoned Mr. Sarangi and that he had been given instructions by them.

Mr. Khurana said, “1 do not know any Sarangi in Tihar Jail and have never made any request for S.K. Jain, 1 only speak to departmental heads.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 31, 1996