Corporate honchos spend first night in jail
New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) One fan, 90 sq ft of space and around 65 prisoners for company -- that is how five arrested telecom honchos spent their first night in the capital's Tihar jail in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.
"There was no special arrangement... they spent their night just like ordinary inmates do," said a Tihar Jail official. They were sent to ward number 4 of Jail Number 3 -- the prison has several sections -- after being denied bail by a special CBI judge Wednesday.
Swan Telecom director Vinod Goenka, Unitech Wireless Ltd managing director Sanjay Chandra, and three top officials of the Reliance ADA Group - Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair - were brought to the jail at round 6 p.m. Wednesday.
They shared the 90 sq ft space in the jail ward with around 65 other inmates, confirmed jail officials. They were served chapattis, dal, rice and vegetables at around 9 p.m.
"They were absolutely normal. They drank water from the same tank that the other inmates use... nothing extra or special was provided to them," a source said.
At around 11 p.m. - which is the sleeping time in the jail - they were given bedsheets.
A Special Central Bureau of Investigation judge Wednesday sent the five officials to judicial custody, denying their bail plea. The accused were named in the first chargesheet filed by the CBI in the 2G spectrum scam but were not arrested during the investigation.