"No Urgency" : Supreme Court Adjourns Plea Of Sukesh Chandrashekhar To Shift Him From Delhi Jail

The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned till July 13 the hearing of the writ petition filed by alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar and his wife Leena Paulose seeking their transfer from Tihar Jail to a prison outside Delhi.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala adjourned the matter after noting that the affidavit filed by the petitioners in respose to the statement of the Enforcement Directorate is not yet on record. Though Senior Advocate R Basant, appearing for the petitioners, requested for a near date, the bench declined.

"There is no urgency", Justice Surya Kant said. When the senior counsel raised apprehensions of danger to life in the prison, Justice Kant referred to the order passed by a vacation bench led by Justice Bopanna on June 17, which stated Sukesh has to be shifted out of Tihar jail.

"After Justice Bopanna's order, nobody will touch you", Justice Kant said.

Last week, the Enforcement Directorate had proposed that the petitioners can be shifted to Mandoli jail within Delhi itself. However, the petitioners opposed this proposal and demanded that they have to be shifted out of Delhi.

Today, Justice Kant asked Additional Solicitor General SV Raju if Bhondsi jail in Gurugram can be considered as an option. The ASG replied that it was not a viable option.

Sukesh has filed the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India alleging that officials in Tihar are torturing him for not meeting their demands of money. The ED has opposed the allegations and have said that Sukesh was operating his extortion racket from the jail with the connivance of certain officials, against whom action has now been taken.

The Director General (Prisons), Delhi has filed an affidavit stating that the conduct of Sukesh Chandrashekhar in jail was unsatisfactory and he was found deliberately violating the prison rules.

The Director General has also denied his allegations that he was assaulted within the jail and that the medical examination conducted by the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital on May 17 did not report any external injuries on him.

The Director General asserted that he is in safe and secure custody in the Delhi jail with a round the clock CCTV surveillance. His wife is also kept in the same prison at the women section and there is no life threat to them, the affidavit stated.