Jail is supposed to be a place, where convicts are housed, away from all the worldly pleasures and family, to serve a term as a punishment for the crime. However, what if money can get you all the things that one can possibly imagine in a confined cell.

In a bribery racket exposed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Ajmer jail, many ‘well-off’ inmates of the jail were provided banned products and given special treatment inside barracks, revealed a media report.

A senior official of ACB, on the condition of anonymity, said that every barrack of Ajmer Central Jail had a room in which the inmates were given these “VIP facilities”.

The official said that during the investigation, it was found that barracks between 1 to 15, had a VIP room for those who came from a sound financial background. He further said that chalk marks were drawn to know which rooms required VIP treatment. These rooms were provided with various facilities like special cleanliness, special food, clean clothes etc.

To avail these VIP rooms, inmates had to pay Rs 8 lakh every month as rent. The family members of these inmates pay the money to the middlemen of the jail staff either in cash or online.

One of the ACB officials said they have written to different banks to provide the bank statement of the accused in the racket. As of now, 18 bank accounts have been seized.

Not only inmates received five-star hotel-like room services but debauch in cigarettes, tobacco by shelling few extra bucks.

One of the officials said, “The rate charged for one packet of cigarette was between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000 and a packet of tobacco would cost between Rs 300 and Rs 500.”

So far, 12 people have been arrested in connection with the racket, including four jail employees and relatives of a prisoner.

The jailor – Jaswant Singh, and middlemen – Anil Choudhary, Sita Ram, and Rajendra Choudhary were arrested. The arrest of the former jailor and three middlemen led to the discovery that the bribery racket involved payouts of Rs 25 lakh per month.

The investigating team found out that the family of the inmates used to send the money to these middlemen to receive the extra care in the cell. The officials further added that other jails are being scrutinized for similar complaints. The investigation is still on.

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