Senior jail officers on Wednesday said that former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, who is out on parole, will be formally released as he has completed his sentence.
The 86-year-old was lodged inside jail number 2 of Tihar after being convicted in the Haryana junior basic teachers’ recruitment scam in 2013.
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, O.P. Chautala’s advocate Amit Sahni said that the Tihar Jail authority has communicated that the Government of GNCT of Delhi has passed an order regarding special remission of six months to convicts who are sentenced for 10 years and have already completed 9 years and 6 months of custody, including regular remission.
“It has been a battle to seek justice for O.P. Chautala. We had to approach the Delhi High Court on multiple occasions for his release. The Delhi High Court has reprimanded the Delhi government for not considering his early release despite fulfilling all parameters,” Sahni said.
A Tihar jail officer said: “He is currently out on emergency parole granted because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He will have to surrender before the jail superintendent after which his release order will be signed by the jail superintendent.”
In February 2013, the CBI had arrested Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son Ajay Chautala, along with three other government officials, for illegally recruiting more than 1,000 teachers in the state using forged documents. The special court had sentenced him to 10 years. Ajay Chautala is also serving a sentence in the same case. As soon as Om Prakash Chautala comes out of jail, the churn in the politics of the state may once again intensify.
During Chautala’s stay in jail, there was discord in his family and due to this, his grandson Dushyant Chautala formed the Jannayak Janata Party after separating from the INLD. In the last Assembly elections, this party had won 11 seats, and now Dushyant Chautala is part of the coalition government with the BJP. Not only this, he has also got the responsibility of Deputy CM in the state government.