Byculla Jail Riot: Probe chief 'sad for cops', rival alleges 'biased probe'

DIG prisons Swati SatheThe tables have turned for suspended senior cop Hiralal Jadhav A year ago DIG prisons Swati Sathe was probing him for corruption Now Jadhav is pointing fingers at her credibility to conduct an unbiased inquest into the death of Byculla womens prison inmate Manjula Shetye and the riots that followed He has written to the chief minister alleging Sathe sent messages on a WhatsApp group asking fellow cops to support jail officials held for Shetyes alleged murderIn the first WhatsApp message Sathe mdash who is conducting an administrative inquiry into Shetyes death and the riots mdash sent to the group Maharashtra Karagrih she expressed that she felt sad and upset at the arrest of six Byculla jail officials in the alleged custodial death of convict Shetye on June 23 She referred to them as her sisters No one replied to this message but another member later sent a text wishing happy birthday to two officialsSuspended former Thane jail SP Hiralal JadhavSupport for sistersFollowing this Sathe sent another message asking the officials whose birthday it was and other colleagues to stand behind their jailed sisters But judging by her next message nobody replied to her plea for support as she later wrote If so many of you have seen the message at least say yes midday reached out to DIG Sathe but she remained unavailable for commentRecently DIG Sathe had produced herself before the panel of the state womens commission headed by Dr Vijaya Rahatkar to give a detailed report on action taken by Byculla prison authorities post the June 23 and 24 incidentsWhen midday reached out to ADG prisons BK Upadhyay to ask if any action would be taken in connection with Sathes messages he said This is just an administrative inquiry nothing to do with crimes Still we are looking into itThe messages Sathe allegedly sent seeking support for the jail officials held for Shetyes deathJadhavs allegationsThese messages have created quite a stir on WhatsApp and now Jadhav has stepped in to stir the pot further by writing to the Chief Minister seeking action against Sathe terming her actions as illegal and raising suspicion on her unbiased probe into the Shetyes death and the prison riotsIn the letter Jadhav has alleged that Sathe not only urged other jail officials and staff to provide moral support to their sisters but also asked jail authorities to collect donations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 to arrange for a big lawyer to defend them Jadhav also claimed that the reason behind June 23 and 24 incidents was not just shortage of food but several aspects of undisciplined jail management and a lapsed system are also responsible for itAlso Read Indrani Mukerjea instigated inmates during riot Byculla Jail officials allegedly told Crime BranchHe also asked how can one expect a fair unbiased inquiry from DIG Sathe in a case about the flawed workings of the Byculla jail which is run by superintendent Chandramani Indurkar who shares a good rapport with SatheSuspend superintendent Jadhav isnt quitting at the allegations alone he wants the Byculla jail superintendent to be suspended Citing the deaths of terror suspect Qatil Siddiqui in Yerwada jail and Chhota Rajan aide OP Singhs murder in Nasik Jail as examples of senior jail officials being immediately suspended in incidents of custodial deaths Jadhav asked why the Byculla jail superintendent has not been suspended yet He says a class III guard was beating a prisoner Shetye and that could not have been possible without the blessings of seniorsIt is his revengeHowever senior jail officials said that Jadhav is doing all this to take revenge from the jail authorities who have suspended him in a sexual harassment case He was suspended after an inquiry was led into the allegations of a constable who claimed he molested her Jadhav was also being probed for corruption by Sathe a year ago before the sexual harassment charges surfaced Jadhav has already been on the radar of jail officials conducting the probe in the matter of the womens jail riots We suspect he could have fuelled them by immediately leaking information regarding Shetyes death and the riots said a senior jail official