New Delhi: The 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict Prof Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar was today shifted to Amritsar Central Jail from Delhi’s Tihar Jail after being brought by road from the national capital amidst tight police security.
“He went in an ambulance at around 4 am and was escorted by teams of armed Delhi police,” a senior Tihar jail official said, adding he was taken by road to Amritsar under heavy security cover.
Bhullar first underwent thorough medical checkup at Swami Dayanand Hospital in Delhi’s Shahdara city yesterday before being brought to Punjab today.
Amritsar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Parmpal confirmed the arrival of Bhullar.
On reaching Amritsar Central Jail, he was immediately referred to Government Guru Nanak Dev Hospital to undergo fresh medical examination besides checkup at the hospitals’ Psychiatric ward, the DCP said, adding that by evening he could be taken to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital.
All formalities regarding his transfer were completed after Delhi government approved the case and the Punjab government agreed to lodge Bhullar in Amritsar prison.
Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur had sought his shifting citing the convict’s poor health. Navneet Kaur, who had migrated to Canada with her in-laws in 1994, has her parental house at Ranjiv Avenue in Amritsar.
All necessary arrangements in the jail and civil hospital were finalized for Bhullar. He is scheduled to be lodged in a barrack that would be cordoned off by special jail staff as assistant superintendent of jail has been given responsibility to oversee the arrangements, the DCP said.
Bhullar is said to be quite unwell, both physically and mentally. A ward in the jail hospital has been kept reserved for him. he said.
A jail authority said that doctors will be going through the medical history of Bhullar to decide whether he would be lodged in the jail barrack or to be admitted to jail hospital for his treatment.
He is reportedly suffering from schizophrenia and has a disturbed state of mind.
Behind bars for the past two decades following his conviction in the 1993 Delhi bomb blast case, Bhullar is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence. Bhullar was sentenced to death by a designated TADA court on August 25, 2001
The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government had cleared the request for Bhullar’s transfer recently.
PTI
