After Tihar jail ‘massage’ video, UP intensifies vigil on VVIP prisoners

LUCKNOW/PRAYAGRAJ UP jails, known for notorious activities of inmates in the past, have intensified surveillance over VVIP prisoners after a video of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi minister Satyendra Jain, getting a massage by a rape accused in Tihar central jail, went viral on social media.

Round-the-clock video vigil has been stepped up across all 72 jails and sub-jails in the state. These include Naini Central Jail, Lucknow jail, Gautam Buddh Nagar jail and other important jails where notorious criminals and terror suspects, along with a former minister and other VVIPS are lodged, said a senior prison official. Prison officials have been asked not to allow anything inside jails apart from those prescribed in the Jail Manual.

UP jails have been known for notorious activities of inmates in the past. These included the murder of jailed gangster Prem Prakash Singh alias ‘Munna Bajrangi’ by another gangster Sunil Rathi on July 9, 2018 and the killing of three gangsters during a shootout in Chitrakoot jail on May 2021. Besides, videos of inmates partying, consuming liquor and making extortion calls from inside jails had gone viral in the past.