No bending rules for Raja, says Tihar DG

NEW DELHI: Former Telecom Minister A Raja is not getting any "preferential" treatment in Tihar prisons and has not met any unauthorised outsider since he was lodged in the jail on February 17, a top prison official said today.

The 47-year-old high-profile inmate of Jail No.1 is in judicial custody in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

"The treatment meted out to any other inmate also applies to him. No preferential treatment is being given to him as being reported in a section of the media," Director General, Prisons, Neeraj Kumar said.

The DG said that no outsider has met Raja and the Tamil Nadu police personnel, who look after the periphery security of the prison, "did not not facilitate any meeting for him".

"Neither any unauthorised person came to meet him nor the presence of Tamil Nadu police in the jail is working to his (Raja's) advantage," he said.

He said the ward walls have been purposely constructed high so that prisoners of one ward cannot interact with those in the other wards.

"If they were allowed to interact then why would there be different wards. Like any other inmate, A Raja too is not allowed to interact with any other prisoner," the DG said.

"He sleeps on the floor like any other inmate does. He is provided seven blankets to make his bed. We are just abiding by the court's order. If anybody has to meet him or he has to get VIP treatment inside the prison premises, those orders should come in writing," Kumar said.