In Bihar, extortion rackets flourish inside prisons too

Rajiv Ranjan Rikshit is in a Bihar jail for impersonating another man and sitting for his exam. But the 26-yr-old IIT graduate is being ques...

Rajiv Ranjan Rikshit is in a Bihar jail for impersonating another man and sitting for his exam. But the 26-yr-old IIT graduate is being questioned in what could be among the state’s first cases of extortion inside a prison.

The interrogation at Phulwarisharif jail is on after a CID report said he was tortured on failing to pay extortion money, popularly known as rangdari tax here.

In his report, a CID superintendent wrote to the Patna DM that Rikshit was paraded naked and his head was tonsured by another prisoner, Ravi Yadav, for failing to pay up.

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Though Rikshit refused to speak up in front of Jail Minister Ashok Choudhary and jailors yesterday and said he tonsured his hair voluntarily, later he said: ‘‘Ravi Yadav is giving me protection. But this incident did not happen.’’

He has been in jail for a over month since he was arrested along with three others from the examination centre at Patna.

But even Jail Minister Choudhary is unhappy with the explanation and has ordered an inquiry to ensure that there has not been a cover-up. ‘‘We will get the facts verified to find out if it happened. We don’t know if he is being pressured or not,’’ he said.

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