The case dates back to 2012 when Sehgal was the superintendent of the Kot Balwal prison. Preliminary investigation conducted by the Crime Branch has revealed that jail inmates during the digging of earth in September 2012 found around 450 -500 metallic objects packed in an earthen pot covered with a lid.
A top woman jailor has landed into a soup after Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch registered a case of fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy against her for allegedly embezzling a treasure trove of 13th century gold and copper coins that were recovered during the excavation of the high security Kot Balwal Jail that houses hardcore Pakistani militants and criminals.
Rajni Sehgal, who is currently superintendent of Udhampur district jail, and three head-constables is facing an imminent arrest after they were booked under section 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 465/ 466/ 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and section 5/24 Treasures Trove Act, 1954.
The case dates back to 2012 when Sehgal was the superintendent of the Kot Balwal prison. Preliminary investigation conducted by the Crime Branch has revealed that jail inmates during the digging of earth in September 2012 found around 450 -500 metallic objects packed in an earthen pot covered with a lid.
During the course of enquiry it was found that the unusual objects were actually currency coins made of gold and copper which were used during the regime of Muhammad Gauri, Balban, Ala-ud-din Khilji.
A crime branch spokesman said the inmates were tutored to depose that the objects recovered were 100 in number and not 450 to500.
"Chakkar Havaldar Ravi Kumar, Mohan Lal and Suman Kumar on the instruction/directions of the Rajni Sehgal, approached the inmates and threatened them that if they will reveal the truth regarding the actual date and quantity of the recovered objects, a red entry shall be made in their records which shall hamper their release," he said.
Crime Branch spokesman said the then jail superintendent Rajni Sehgal deliberately and intentionally remained mum and did not inform her senior officers or the district magistrate about the recovery, as required under the Treasure Trove, Act.
"It was only after the initiation of the enquiry by the Prisons Department that she disclosed recovery of 107 coins in November, 2012 by preparing fake and forged records/document mentioning wrong date and time of recovery and hurriedly referred the matter to directorate of Archives, Archaeology & Museum, Jammu in order to put a veil over her misdeeds and wrongdoings", he said.
Sehgal, who was suspended in 2013 after a Pakistani convict Sanaullah Ranjay was killed by another inmate inside the Kot Balwal jail, was reinstated last year and posted in Udhampur jail.
Sehgal has had a brush with law in 2013 when police registered a case of unfair means, forgery, fraud and impersonation against her for using under trial to write her examination for the post-graduate degree in sociology held by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in Jammu's Ambphala jail in 2012.
Sehgal however rubbished all the charges claiming that she was being framed under the conspiracy. "It is concoction. This is too much", she told dna
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