Romesh Sharma gets bitter taste of jail life

“Kya din dekhne ko aaye hain. Ek time tha ki Romesh Sharma ke naukar bhi mineral water peete the (What bad times have come upon us. There was a time when even Romesh Sharma’s servantsused to drink mineral water),” the relative says, close to tears.

When Romesh Sharma arrives from the lock-up, chewing on a paan, his eye quickly catches a TV reporter waiting for him. A dozen armed policemen keep pace with him as he walks to court — sporting a new pair of Reeboks, a starched kurta pyjama and a woollen bandi. His relatives insist he looks emaciated and weak, and while speaking to this correspondent, Sharma himself complains, “Prison food is so bad that I barely touch it. And I haven’t had water since 20 days….”

Into his sixth week of incarceration, Sharma has obviously given a happier picture of his life in Tihar Jail to his relatives and friends. “He has told us he is quite comfortable. He has a bed, a table, a TV and a fan in his cell,” one of them boasts.

This may be far from the truth as Sharma gets used to the rigours of “classless” existence in Tihar Jail, arguably Asia’s most secure penitentiary. A majority of its 9,000 inmates do have access to facilities like TV, evenplaygrounds, barber shops, canteens and libraries, but these are strictly out-of-bounds for persons occupying the narrow row of high-security cells attached to each of Tihar’s five prisons.

Sharma is detained in the high-security ward of Jail no 2 where, among others, Charles Sobhraj was held for years. There are about a dozen cells — 50 sq feet each — and occupants are rotated every few weeks. Presently, Romesh Sharma has Keshav, manager of Bagicha restaurant, a co-accused in the tandoor murder case in a neighboring cell. On the other side is Rohit Mehra, an electrical engineer jailed about a year ago, for the suspicious manner in which his wife killed herself.

For six hours every day, padlocks of the cells are opened and the three men allowed to step out into a narrow courtyard with grills, under the watchful eyes of guards of the Tamil Nadu Special Police. But there is little interaction between them. Says one man in an adjoining cell,“Romesh Sharma keeps mostly to himself. I have seen him huddledin a corner of the courtyard, crying quietly. Otherwise he keeps busy with his prayers.” For the rest of the day, the inmates of high-security ward are confined to their bare, dank cells with built-in toilets. While Romesh Sharma says he has been allowed to use his own bedding, others complain about the torn, moth-eaten blankets given to spread on the floor to sleep. Besides the blankets, they have been given a plastic bucket and a jug the only worldly possessions, except maybe a bundle of clothes, that inmates are allowed inside the cells.

Prison officials say Sharma’s entry into the jail has gone mostly unnoticed. He hasn’t acquired celebrity status or been noticed for throwing tantrums. The only concession he has got is an extra serving of milk and fruit, since he suffers from peptic ulcers. Says an official, “Romesh Sharma appears to be a submissive sort of man. He folds his hands whenever he spots a senior official doing the rounds. Anyway, what does he have to say to us?”

With as many as 18cases registered against him, the real trauma for Romesh Sharma is the daily drill he has to endure for attending hearings in court. The only break in the monotony are the days he is allowed mulaakaat (meeting) with his relatives. Those who have visited Sharma have observed that at one point in time, his house would be milling with VIPs, and now not a single politician has come forward to visit him in Tihar. “Sab maal katne aate the. Aab koi nahin phatakta (They all used to come for his money. Now no one flutters near him),” says a family friend.

On court days, inmates are woken up at 6 am, filed out by the guards to the deori and made to wait for hours till the packed prison van leaves Tihar Jail. They then have to wait for their turn in the crowded lock-up and may return `home’ to Tihar Jail only by 6-7pm. Lunch is taken in the lock-up but, as usual, the diet is strictly regulated — only simple vegetarian food, six chapatis, six pieces of fruit. And everything is security-cleared.