Herald has already exposed the systematic plan by Assistant Superintendent of Sada Jail, Bhanudas Pednekar, of transferring all the illegalities of Sada jail to the Modern Colvale jail.
Investigations have further revealed that Pednekar was the blue-eye boy of IG Prisons Elvis Gomes.
Despite all clear evidence and CCTV footage showing the presence of Pednekar during the assault on the under-trials, the IG Prisons has shockingly failed to take any action.
For the last one week the government has suspended four jail guards, superintendent and the jailer and ordered a magisterial inquiry.
IG Prisons, speaking to Herald on Thursday, had said that more guards and officials would be suspended. “Only four guards cannot assault 50 people and we have more names who will be suspended soon,” Gomes had told Herald but so far nothing has been done and the four jail guards and the two officials have been made scapegoats.
It is pertinent to note that former suspended Jail Superintendent Melwyn Vaz has already alleged, to this paper, that Pednekar collected illegal hafta from prisoners at Sada and shared this with higher officials in the headquarters.
What comes as a further surprise is that the despite there being enough officers at the Colvale jail, like Superintendent Vaz, Assistant Superintendent Chandrakant Harijan and jailer Krishna Usgaokar, the IG Prisons had appointed his alleged blue-eye boy Pednekar as the maintenance in charge at Colvale jail.
The staffers at the Colvale jail allege this is another scam at the jail as no maintenance is being looked after and money is being siphoned off in the name of maintenance.
Sources have also informed that Pednekar, after the expose by Herald, immediately had a meeting with Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar, however, what conspired between the two is not known.
When contacted Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said that he will not spare anybody involved in the assault. “We have instituted a magisterial inquiry into the matter and within 15 days report will be submitted,” Parsekar said refusing to make any further comment on the issue.
