NEW DELHI, Dec 21: A brazen extortion racket forcing Tihar Jail inmates’ relatives to pay for legally free mulakat (visits) has been busted, with prison authorities transferring 20-25 data entry operators amid suspicions of credential misuse by external touts.
The scam surfaced after an inmate tipped off jail intelligence about a relative being charged for a tele-booked meeting via the toll-free number. Verification confirmed bookings routed through a suspicious phone line where undercover officials posing as kin were demanded cash for slots on the National Prisons Information Portal.
Data entry operators at Central Public Relations Offices (CPROs) handle these requests, logging relative details to allot physical or video-conferencing times—64,017 VC visits and 402,310 mulakats occurred Jan-Dec 20. Touts exploited this with “home-based booking” boards outside the complex (now removed), accessing stolen login credentials.
As probes continue into the racket’s duration, Tihar’s IT wing rolls out biometric authentication alongside IDs/passwords to plug vulnerabilities, while operators shifted to office roles and CPRO staff swapped—further transfers loom. Intelligence hailed for swift crackdown on the exploitative network preying on desperate families.
