New Delhi: A Delhi Police investigation has uncovered a well-organised extortion racket thriving in Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli jails.Several prison staffers intimidate and extort new inmates by threatening to transfer them to barracks where violence among occupants is rampant or to wards where they will be assigned labour-intensive duties, unless their families pay up, according to the probe.The repeated threats create fear, anxiety and psychological pressure on these prisoners, investigators said, adding that these jail staffers work in collusion with hardened criminals to sustain the racket.When inmates appear distressed following the threats and harassment, warders allegedly step in, projecting themselves as protectors, the probe says. They provide the inmates with mobile numbers, instructing them to ask their family members to transfer money to the numbers through UPI platforms in return for “protection and favourable treatment” inside the jails.The numbers generally belong to relatives of some undertrial prisoners or neighbours. The scared inmates are left with no choice but to call up their family members and ask them to transfer the money. Investigators have found out that those making the payments are generally unaware of the final beneficiaries, while those receiving it often do not know the original source of the funds.During the investigation, around 200 people, including nearly 150 family members of prisoners and several inmates who were out of jail, were examined. Many claimed they had been asked to pay up to prevent harassment or secure favourable treatment inside the prisons.“The probe further revealed that coughing up money did not bring an end to the harassment. Instead, once an inmate ensured his relatives made an initial payment, they were repeatedly coerced into making further payments, thereby trapping them in a cycle of extortion,” sources in the know of the details of the probe added.To conceal the money trail, the extorted funds were routed through two or three intermediary bank accounts before being withdrawn in cash. The layering of transactions was intended to disguise the origin and destination of the money and reduce the risk of detection.The investigation found out that extortion demands typically ranged from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 or more, with repeated payments demanded over time.Around 200 bank accounts were scrutinised and investigators found out that several of them belonged to economically vulnerable individuals and others whose banking credentials had allegedly been obtained on various pretexts and misused to route the illicit funds.Bank accounts of inmates who were out of jail were also used as conduits before the money was withdrawn in cash, making it difficult to trace final beneficiaries. Analysis of these accounts revealed substantial financial activity, with annual transaction volumes ranging from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.The probe also revealed that, in several instances, bank accounts of some advocates were used to receive the money, with the transfer shown as payments towards their legal fees or for representing their clients in courts.DG (prisons) Anand Mohan did not respond to requests for comment.
