5th death within fortnight in Tihar; family alleges foul play

A 27-year-old inmate of Tihar jail died under mysterious circumstances hours before he was to be released on bail, the fifth death in a fortnight, with family alleging foul play.
Rinku Juneja, an undertrial who was recently sent to the jail, was granted bail last evening and was about to be released around 8 pm yesterday.
Almost three hours prior to it, at around 5 pm, Rinku was taken to hospital, where he was declared dead, jail officials said.
The family of the victim, however, has alleged foul play, saying, the jail administration is trying to hide the matter from them. The family members also staged protest at the hospital against the incident.

None of the Tihar jail officials were available for comment over the incident.
This is the fifth such case in a fortnight where a death has been reported from within the jail.

Tihar Jail authorities had yesterday stepped up security and intensified frisking with other precautionary measures following the death of an inmate in the special security ward after he was attacked with a sharp weapon by a fellow inmate.
Two suicides and an accidental death of the inmates have also been reported from the jail over the last two weeks.
Taking serious view of the matter, Director General, Delhi Prisons, Alok Verma, had ordered a high-level inquiry into the reasons behind the lapses leading to such incidents.

DIG, Delhi Prisons, Mukesh Prasad, meanwhile, had said that various sporting activities, cultural programmes and an initiative called 'Gumsum Punja' have been taken up to identify suicidal tendencies among inmates and help them come out of depression through counselling.