The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Central and Delhi governments on a plea filed by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar seeking to shift him and his wife from the Mandoli jail here to any other prison in the country.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravikumar sought a response from the Centre and Delhi government as his lawyer said he was physically assaulted in prison.
The plea sought his shifting from administrative control of Director General (DG) Prisons, Delhi to ensure his safety and fair trial. His wife Leena Paulose is also the petitioner in the case. The court was also informed that DG Prisons has now changed.
Chandrashekhar has claimed that he was assaulted in Mandoli jail, which "is evident from his medical records" and said that he is facing a threat to life in the prison.
"The present petition is being filed under the compelling circumstances of physical assault by the CRPF personnel on petitioner no. 1 (Chandrashekhar) due to which he received severe injury on his testicle parts. The incident took place on August 31, 2022, during the search by the CRPF, thereafter till ten days, no medical treatment was given to him by the Jail authority despite several requests and reminders," the petition added.
He further sought direction for Delhi Police Commissioner to conduct an independent inquiry on assault, threat, demand of extortion etc. exclusively by the DCP ranked officer.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench pulled up Chandrashekhar for frequently filing petitions in the top court and sought an explanation from him.
"The affordability of litigants is not a ground to file a petition so frequently," the bench said while pointing out that he filed two petitions on jail shifting in the apex court in the last two months.
Meanwhile, the apex court declined his other plea and asked him to move a representation to jail authorities on increasing the visiting hours with his lawyers.
His lawyer AK Singh told the top court that there are 29 cases pending against Chandrashekhar in different states of the country and five cases are pending against his wife.
He said Chandrashekhar needs to meet his lawyers for 60 minutes every day as against the 30 minutes each twice a week provided under the Delhi Prison Rules.
Recently, through some letters, Chandrashekhar alleged that Delhi's Jail minister Satyender Jain extorted Rs 10 crore from him. The AAP has denied the allegations.
Earlier, the Supreme Court dismissed his plea twice to transfer him from Mandoli jail. Before that apex court shifted Chandrashekhar and his wife to Mandoli jail in the city from Tihar jail.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) had said that while inside Tihar jail he was running a crime syndicate, paying Rs 1.5 crores every month for facilities like using phones to pass messages to persons from his syndicate and some jail officials were on his monthly payroll.
ED had told the top court that Chandrashekhar indulged in money laundering, extortion, and impersonation of public officials while holding constitutional posts.
He is charged with multi-crore fraud cases and is also accused of extorting Rs 200 crore from the family of former Fortis Healthcare and Ranbaxy Lab promoters Shivinder and Malvinder Singh from the premises of the prison.
Chandrashekhar was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery instance allegedly involving former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran and others.
Some Bollywood actors and models have been questioned by the ED for their alleged links with Chandrashekhar.
( With inputs from ANI )
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