Pakistani inmate beaten to death in Jaipur prison 4 HELD
‘Gravely concerned’ Pak calls it retaliation of Feb 14 attack, seeks India’s response
JAIPUR: Four inmates of Jaipur’s central jail allegedly killed a Pakistani convict on Wednesday afternoon after a brawl in the barracks, police said.
The Pakistan foreign office alleged in a statement that the killing of Shakir Ullah, 44, was retaliation for the terror attack in Kashmir in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-mohammad has taken responsibility for the attack and India contends that it had the backing of the Pakistan army and intelligence establishment.
But officials in the Jaipur jail described it as a fight between inmates over a petty issue.
“A Pakistani prisoner, who has been in Jaipur jail since March 2011, was killed by four men in a barrack after they had arguments over television channel and volume,” said director general (prisons) NRK Reddy.
He added that the Union home ministry and external affairs ministry were informed about the death. “Further action on his body will be taken on directions of the central government,” he said.
Ullah was part of a group of seven prisoners who were watching television around 1.45pm, said a prison official who did not want to be named, adding that Ullah was the only Pakistani national in the group. An argument broke out between Ullah, who was serving a life term on charges of recruiting members for the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-taiba (LET), and other inmates over lowering the volume of the TV and changing the channel, said Jaipur police chief Anand Srivastava.
Four prisoners — Ajeet Jaat (26), Kulwinder Gurjar (27), Manoj Pratap Singh (33) and Bhajan Meena (31) — then hit Ullah with the marble slab on which the television was kept, he added. “He died on the spot.”
Pakistan sought a response from the Centre and said it was “gravely concerned”. “Our high commission in New Delhi has officially raised the issue with the Indian authorities requesting them to urgently authenticate the report and awaits a response. Meanwhile, we call upon the Indian Government to fulfil its obligations and ensure provision of foolproof security to all Pakistani inmates and prisoners in Indian Jails and Pakistani visitors to India,” read a statement.
Police have charged the four men for killing Ullah and ordered a magisterial inquiry. Jeet, a resident of Jaipur, is serving a life term for raping a Japanese tourist in 2015. Gurjar, a resident of Jaipur, is charged with murder. Singh, who hails from UP’S Maharajpur district, is on death row for a 2013 rape-and-murder of a child. Meena, a resident of Karauli in Rajasthan, is also on death row for murder, and is facing trial in three other cases of murder.
Ullah, also known as Mohammad Hanif, hailed from Sialkot, and was arrested in 2010 in Ferozepur, Punjab, for recruiting locals for LET and sending them to Pakistan for training. In 2011, he was brought to Jaipur, after the state ATS intercepted his phone calls to some locals in Jhalawar while coordinating LET terror activities, an officer of the ATS said, requesting anonymity.
“He was found guilty of recruiting for LET, sending the recruits for training to Pakistan and arranging funds for terror activities on December 6, 2017,” the officer said. Seven other persons were also convicted with him, said the ATS officer.