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The Delhi High Court today ordered for 8-murders accused, Ankit Gujjar's custodial death case from Delhi's Tihar Jail to be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a plea seeking the transfer of probe to the central agency.

Noting that Gujjar was not only brutally tortured by unknown inmates but the Jail authorities also failed to ensure due treatment being provided to him thereafter, the court said, "..even when Ankit got injured and was alive, in case proper 
medical treatment was provided to him, his life could have been saved."

Earlier the bench of Justice Mukta Gupta while reserving the order had said that the case was "a clear case of custodial torture".

The court has directed for a status report to be filed by Director General (Prisons) indicating the measures taken to streamline the system as regards the CCTV cameras at the jail and when the same are not working, what alternative 
measures can be taken in the meantime.

In the previous hearing the court had issued notice to the centre, Delhi Police and Tihar Jail authorities in a plea filed by the family members of 29-year-old gangster Ankit Gujjar, who was allegedly murdered inside Tihar Jail in the capital.

The court had directed the Tihar Jail authorities and the Delhi Police to file a status report in the matter and the Director General (Prisons) to preserve all the CCTV footages which have a bearing on the incident, i.e. prior to the incident, at the time of incident and thereafter.

The petition filed through Advocates Mehmood Pracha and Shariq Nisar had alleged that the authorities are trying to “manipulate the investigation” to protect the accused. It had further been contended that the conduct of authorities had been in favour of offenders and against the victims.

Gangster Ankit Gujjar, who was accused of killing BJP leader Vijay Pandit outside his Dadri home in 2014, was found dead inside the Tihar Jail complex on Aug 4, 2021. It had been alleged that the investigation revealed that the 29-year-old was beaten to death.

Ankit was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police back in 2015, but was subsequently released on bail in 2019. He was said to have been involved in as many as 8 murder cases. Both the Uttar Pradesh Police and the Delhi Police had issued rewards of ₹ 1 lakh and  ₹ 25,000 respectively for apprehending Ankit Gujjar.

Case Title: Geeta and Ors vs State and Ors