Pappu turns Tihar into a Moulin Rouge

NEW DELHI: A dance programme, which turned out to be virtually a cabaret, was held in the capital's high security Tihar central jail for Rashtriya Janata Dal's controversial MP, Pappu Yadav, who is in the prison on charges of murder.

Violating jail rules and flouting Supreme Court orders, Yadav is in fact enjoying a luxurious stay in Tihar central jail, with the active connivance of jail staff. An inquiry has been ordered into the state of affairs at the jail after the latest incident.

Tihar jail officials, including DG (Prisons) R P Singh and PRO Sunil Gupta, avoided repeated phone calls for their version of events.

The MP from Bihar's Madhepura constituency was brought to Tihar in February after the Supreme Court ordered his transfer from Patna's Beur Jail, where he also routinely flouted prison rules.

The transfer to Tihar has apparently made little difference to Yadav's enviable prison lifestyle.

A lavish function with a song and dance programme was the latest event organised by the MP for his own people in the prison. Girls called specially for the event performed for them, dressed "appropriately" for the occasion, according to sources.

Prison officials said organising dance programmes for prisoners was usual in Tihar, but this performance was different: it was a cabaret. The MP and some of the jail staff also reportedly joined in the dancing. Sources said this was actually meant to be a sideshow for Yadav, along with another programme for the rest of the jail.

Unluckily for Yadav and his "supporters" among the jail staff, one of the girls got mixed up with the other troupe. When her turn came, she presented the item she had come for. When the "general lot" got a glimpse of what was meant for an exclusive club, people started to look around, which is when the whole affair came to light.

This was not the first instance, nor the only "comfort" Yadav enjoys in prison. He is also reported to have a cooler fitted in the room, a TV, a mobile phone, enjoys food of his choice, and is allowed to meet guests regularly in the superintendent's office.

No records of these meetings are kept, however. He makes calls regularly and meets his associates. He has a room exclusively to himself, unlike other murder accused, since he is an MP.

And he also brings in video-conferencing  to jail

That's to conduct his trial from jail, and has cost Tihar over Rs 1 crore

DNA Correspondent
New Delhi

Cabaret dancing is not the only thing Pappu Yadav has brought to Tihar jail. The jail also owes its video-conferencing facility to the notorious MP. Already 14 pieces of equipment, worth Rs 1 crore, have been set up for the Pappu Yadav trial being conducted through video conferencing under the Supreme Court's direction.

The fund required for installing video-conferencing has been given by the Delhi Government. As of now, Tihar is using the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited's video-conferencing facility on a hire-basis, and so far Tihar has paid around Rs 1.5 lakh for the Pappu Yadav trial.

However, jail officials don't admit Pappu Yadav is responsible for the installation of a video-conferencing facility at Tihar, stating that it is a court order and had to be done anyway.

They do admit, though, that the Pappu Yadav issue put things on the fast track in this direction.

Initially, when Pappu Yadav was transported to Tihar from Beur Jail of Patna, on the apex court's direction last year, there was a veritable war of letters between Tihar, Bihar and the Central Bureau of Investigation. Tihar's argued that it was just keeping Pappu Yadav in Tihar on the Supreme Court's directions, and the bills on his video-conferencing (as per the Supreme Court, directions, he is not to travel to Bihar, where the case is being heard, unless unavoidable, and hearing of his case will take place through video-conferencing) and that the Bihar Government should pay for the video-conferencing.

Bihar government was not ready to pay saying now he has been shifted to Tihar on Supreme Court direction, so Tihar should pay for it. Then Tihar wrote to the CBI, also, that since it was the agency which was prosecuting Pappu Yadav in the case, it should pay the bill incurred on video-conferencing. Even the Delhi government had written to the Bihar government on the issue.

But neither the Bihar government paid, nor the CBI, and in the meantime, the case could not be heard on some dates as there was no video-conferencing facility in Tihar, whereas the Bihar court where the trial is taking place has been equipped with the video-conferencing facility.

But keeping the Supreme Court directions and its attitude on the case in mind, Tihar authorities, after a lot of deliberation, finally decided to acquire the facility for the Pappu Yadav case, and later, the Delhi government sanctioned money for installing the video-conferencing facility in Tihar.

"It was a minor issue, nothing major. As of now, we have video-conferencing facility in Tihar. But it is not that Pappu Yadav is responsible for having video-conferencing in Tihar.

The life and times of Pappu Yadav

Pappu Yadav hails from a farmer family and started off as a farmer himself. He remained a petty criminal till he decided to enter politics. He has changed parties faster than jails. He has been with Samajwadi party, Paswan's LJP and Lalu's RJD. Pappu is the brother-in-law of Rabri Devi's brother Subhash Yadav.

His good times behind bars

June 14, 1998: CPI(M) MLA Ajit Sarkar is shot dead in broad daylight allegedly by Pappu Yadav's henchmen in Tatma toli

May 23, 1999: Yadav is arrested for the crime

September 26, 2004: Yadav hosts a party in Beur jail for the inmates to celebrate his bail

October 16, 2004: While in jail, Pappu Yadav contests and wins from Madhepura constituency by a margin of over two lakh votes

November, 2004: A cell phone bill reveals that Yadav had made 670 calls from the jail. The numbers included those of Bihar ministers along with a jail minister

December 1, 2004: Jail Inspector General Deepak Kumar Singh finds Pappu Yadav holding a durbar of around 50 of his supporters within the jail premises.

February 14, 2005: Supreme Court orders his shifting to Tihar Jail. The court remarked that ''his conduct in custody in Tihar jail will specially be monitored".

Past masters of the game

Charles Sobhraj: The grand master

Charles Sobhraj used to organise parties in jail to great advantage. On March 16, 1986, on the pretext of celebrating his birthday, he ordered sweets laced with drugs and made the guards eat them. He simply took the keys from the security men once they collapsed and walked out of Tihar jail's central complex. This remains, to this day, the most audacious Indian prison escape.

Md Shahabuddin: Luxuriously behind bars

He lived in style, in an air-conditioned cell equipped with a TV and refrigerator, and ordered expensive meals through his mobile phone. He was often shifted to comfortable hospitals for routine checkups.

Amar Mani Tripathi: Party animal

Samajwadi Party legislator Amar Mani Tripathi hosted a lavish party in Lucknow jail with chicken, quail and liquor for his close associate Prakash Chand Pandey, co-accused in the Madhumita murder case.

Raja Bhaiyya: King size

He had a 'kavi sammelan' organised by Uttar Pradesh minister Raja Ram Pandey in the Pratapgarh jail premises where senior officials showered praise on the jailed legislator.