A top Punjab prison official has ordered a probe into reports that VIP facilities,including an LCD TV,were provided to former state minister Bibi Jagir Kaur who is serving time in the Kapurthala jail in connection with the abduction of her daughter. After ordering the inquiry,Punjab DGP (Prisons) Shashi Kant also insisted that rules would be followed in the case. I have ordered an inquiry and deputed an IG rank officer to conduct the probe. He will visit the jail and go into the reports (talk of VIP treatment to Kaur). I don't tolerate any nonsensical stuff and we don't want any adverse publicity. Rules will have to be followed, Kant said. Kant further said he had also shot off a letter to Kapurthala jail superintendent,S P Khanna,asking him to strictly follow the rules. My one-line instruction to him was that rules have to be observed. I am also sending a team for inspection to the Kapurthala jail. I have asked the jail superintendent to maintain rules at any cost, Kant said. Kant was asked to comment on reports that a 32-inch LCD TV and DTH dish antenna were installed in the jail yesterday. He said the jail superintendent had told him the appliances mentioned had not made their way inside the jail where prisoners are kept. The jail superintendent said the TV could have been purchased by someone living in the residential complex inside the jail complex. The outer gate of the jail is common and besides the superintendent,deputy superintendent,there are doctors and other staff who live in the residential quarters in the complex. It could have been for any of them, he said. Khanna,however,said any number of people can meet the 57-year-old Kaur when asked about her busy visitors' schedule. There is no specified number in jail manuals, he said when asked how many people can meet her in a day. Last week,Jagir Kaur was sent to jail after being sentenced to five years by a CBI court for conspiring to abduct her daughter,and also carrying out a forcible abortion on the teenager 12 years ago. Her daughter Harpreet died under mysterious circumstances. Bibi Jagir Kaur was however not charged for murder. To express solidarity with Kaur,her supporters and SAD leaders have met her in jail in the last few days. Kaur's younger daughter Rajneet Kaur and son-in-law Yuvraj Singh were also reported to be by her side. Last week,Punjab Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira demanded jail officials be sacked for reportedly touching Jagir Kaur's feet after her conviction and sentencing in the case. There were reports that each day hundreds of cars can be seen parked outside the jail complex as there was heavy rush of visitors to meet Jagir Kaur,with one vehicle ferrying the elderly inside the jail after they alight from their cars outside. People also brought fruits for Jagir Kaur,a visitor told reporters,adding that they were later distributed among other jail inmates. Kaur was the lone woman member in the 18-member Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP ministry which was sworn in earlier this month. Kaur,who resigned as a minister on moral grounds,was,however,acquitted of the murder charge.
