Inmates drink liquor, make extortion calls
LUCKNOW: A purported video showing inmates drinking and making an extortion call to a trader from the district jail in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli has gone viral on the social media, prompting authorities to suspends six prison officials.
In the video, Anshu Dixit, one of the inmates, is heard asking the trader to provide ₹10,000 to the jailer at his residence and ₹5,000 to his deputy. He also asks for liquor and other things. A few bullets can be seen on Dixit’s bed.
The video has surfaced months after authorities had claimed to have increased security in jails and curbed a “nexus between criminals and prison personnel” following gangster Prem Prakash Singh’s murder inside the Baghpat district jail on July 9.
Another gangster, Sunil Rathi, who was also lodged in the same prison, had allegedly shot dead Bajrangi after smuggling in a pistol.
Officials said Dixit has been shifted to Pratapgarh jail while the other three — Nikhil Sonker, Ajit Chaubey and Shringar Singh — have been sent to Sultanpur, Barabanki and Fatehpur prisons. He added two other jail inmates, Sohrab and Sandeep Singh, were shifted to Delhi’s Tihar and Sultanpur jails.
Principal secretary (home and prisons) Arvind Kumar said senior jail superintendent Pramod Kumar Mishra, jailer Govind Ram Mishra, deputy jailer Ram Chandra Tewari, head warder Lalta Prasad Pandey and two warders Ganga Ram and Shiv Mangal Singh were suspended.
He added that a departmental inquiry has been initiated against the six over their alleged negligence in allowing mobile phones, liquor, cigarettes and other eatables inside the jail. Deputy inspector general (prison headquarters) Umesh Srivastava has been asked to inquire into the matter.