Indrani files complaint against jail officials who beat her up after inmate;s death

Jailed former media entrepreneur Indrani Mukerjea on Thursday filed a complaint with the Nagapda police against Byculla jail officials, who allegedly assaulted her after the death of an inmate, Manjula Shetye.

Six jail officials allegedly beat Shetye, a murder convict, to death on June 23, because she complained some food items were missing from the morning ration.

Indrani alleged that even she was assaulted by the male jail staff and was threatened that she would meet the same fate as Shetye, if she gave a statement against them. Indrani has also complained to the trial court saying the jail officials were threatening her because they didn’t want her to give her statement under section 164 of CrPc.

Mukerjea, in her complaint, said the jail superintendent told her ‘tu witness banne ja rahi hai... tereko bhi dekh lenge’. “The jail SP ordered lathi-charge on the prisoners and the male staff also assaulted me (pointing towards her bruises). I was beaten on both hands and legs with lathi,” she had said in the court.

She told the court that she wanted to record her statement before a magistrate and file an FIR with the Nagpada police as she was constantly being threatened in the jail, following which judge issued an order to lodge a complaint with the concerned police station.

An officer requesting anonymity said, “After presenting her in front of the magistrate, she was taken to JJ hospital for medical examination following which she was taken to Nagpada police station where she handed over a complaint application was later taken back to the jail.”

Lastly the report by JJ hospital confirmed that Indrani had sustained only blunt injuries on her body.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai crime branch officers visited Byculla jail on Thursday, soon after they took over the probe into Shetye’s custodial death. The team collected CCTV footages, hard disk and several other electronic equipment related to CCTV cameras. They were to be handed over to the forensic science laboratory (FSL) on Thursday for analysis.

The documents related to the case and other evidence collected from the prison was handed over to the crime branch, said official. FSL director Krishna Kulkarni said, “Viscera and electronic equipment like hard disk of CCTVs and few others have come for analysis. We will keep this case on priority and will submit the report within week”.

According to the preliminary investigation, on June 23 all the CCTV cameras were working but when the news of Shetye’s murder spread in jail, inmates created a ruckus on Saturday. Few prisoners even broke the two CCTV cameras. “We have been recording statements of eyewitnesses and jail guards,” said crime branch officer.

Two cases were filed in Nagpada police station after the June 23 incident. The first is a murder case against the officials and the second was registered against 291 inmates including Indrani Mukharjea for creating ruckus inside the jail. Crime branch unit 3 would probe the murder case only and Nagpada police would continue investigating the rioting case.