Director Inspector General (prisons) Swati Sathe was on Friday booted out of the administrative probe into the alleged custodial death of Byculla women's prison inmate Manjula Shetye and the riots that followed
DIG (prisons) Swati Sathe
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Director Inspector General (prisons) Swati Sathe was on Friday booted out of the administrative probe into the alleged custodial death of Byculla women's prison inmate Manjula Shetye and the riots that followed. The move comes after she sent messages seeking support for her 'sisters' who have been jailed for Shetye's death.
(From left) Swati Sathe was conducting an administrative inquest into the alleged custodial death of Byculla prison inmate Manjula Shetye and riots that followed it
Top state prison officials on Friday transferred the inquest to Inspector General (prisons – south) Rajvardhan Sinha. The department came up with the decision to transfer Sathe after getting trapped in an embarrassing situation over her WhatsApp messages, sent on the group Maharashtra Karagrih, seeking support for the Byculla prison officials jailed for Shetye's death.
Sathe had sent the WhatsApp messages on the group 'Maharashtra Karagrih' seeking support for her 'sisters' who are in custody for Shetye's murder
Messages raise suspicions
Referring to the jailed officials as her 'sisters', Sathe said she felt 'sad and upset' at their arrest. In messages after that she asked her colleagues to stand behind the officials.
The messages raised doubts over Sathe's approach to the administrative probe. To add to it, suspended former Thane jail superintendent Hiralal Jadhav also wrote a letter to the Chief Minister, alleging that Sathe was asking cops to contribute Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 so they can get a big lawyer to represent the jailed officials. Terming her actions as 'illegal' he demanded strict action against her.
Sathe writes to ADG
The prison department, which sat on the issue for two days, acted on Friday after Sathe wrote to ADG (prisons) BK Upadhyay, expressing her desire to step down from the inquiry over media reports of her controversial WhatsApp posts.
mid-day carried the messages and Jadhav's allegations in a front-page report on Thursday, 'Probe chief 'sad' for cops', her rival alleges conflict'.
Upadhyay confirmed that the inquiry has been taken from her and IG Rajvardhan Sinha has now been tasked with the responsibility of conducting the probe. However, when asked if Sathe's act breached any rules or if the prison department has initiated any action to look into the controversy, Upadhyay said, "We are looking into it." But, the department has taken a lesson from the embarrassing incident. "I have asked all [officials] to take precautions so that this type of an incident does not take place," Upadhyay told mid-day.
Photos: Byculla jail inmate's murder: The stunning twists and turns of the case
Custody extended
As for the probe into Shetye's death, the Crime Branch has managed to get extended custody of the Byculla prison officials. On Friday afternoon, all six murder accused were produced before the court and remanded in custody till July 14.
According to crime branch sources, the incident took place in Byculla jail's division number 1. On July 5, the crime branch got back the CCTV recording of the prison from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Sources confirmed that some offensive scenes have been found in the CCTV and they are being scanned thoroughly.
Accused not cooperating
While cops were granted an extended remand, the accused are proving to be a problem. The Crime Branch said in court that the accused are not cooperating with them in the investigation since they are well aware of the law. On the other hand, defence advocates have put in an application in court seeking to meet the accused. The court has not replied to the application yet.
The probing agency is also seemingly short-staffed in the case, as they have only one investigating officer to record all statements.
This is especially troubling since different accounts are emerging from several people, and the crime branch will now have to record statements of 291 inmates of Byculla prison.
Stick still missing
In addition to uncooperative accused, the cops are also grappling with the absence of the stick that was allegedly used to assault Shetye.
Crime branch sources said they had searched the jail premises, seized uniforms and cell phones of the accused but failed to find the stick. Meanwhile, cops have sent Shetye's clothes to FSL.
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