State seeks transfer of Chautalas, Yadav cousins out of Tihar

In an unusual move, a request has been made by Delhi's Deputy Secretary (Home) Indu Sinha to transfer Om Prakash Chautala, son Ajay and 53 fellow convicts in the teachers' recruitment scam out of Tihar jail to any prison in Haryana. Sinha has sent a similar letter regarding Tihar inmates Vishal and Vikas Yadav, seeking their transfer to Lucknow jail.

The letters, written to the Chandigarh home secretary and Uttar Pradesh home secretary, respectively, have so far drawn no response.

Both the requests were made on the appeal of Tihar officials to the Delhi government. Confirming they had sent the appeal, Director General (Prisons) Vimla Mehra said: "The two cases pertain to other states, so why should they be in Tihar? Tihar cannot accommodate all the prisoners or accused persons involved in other cases."

However, requests for transfer have been made only in these two cases involving influential persons.

According to sources, the reason cited in the Chautala case is that the former Haryana chief minister and his fellow convicts in the JBT (junior basic trained) teachers' scam are mostly senior citizens with relatives back in the state. "Their relatives have to come from Haryana and are allowed to meet them only once or twice a week," says the request.

In the case of the Yadav cousins, sources said, the reason cited is that Vishal is suffering from tuberculosis and needs treatment. However, questions are being raised about why Vikas too needs to be transferred. The duo are serving time for Nitish Katara murder.

Incidentally, an RTI application had revealed in 2012 that Vikas, whose father is the notorious muscleman-politician D P Yadav, visited AIIMS 87 times since his conviction in 2008. Vishal had visited a private hospital at least 80 times.

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