3 killed in firing at UP jail, CM seeks report
OFFICIALS SAID IT IS NOT CLEAR AS TO HOW THE ACCUSED GOT A FIREARM INSIDE THE PRISON
LUCKNOW: Three prisoners, including two dreaded gangsters Mukeem alias Kala and Anshu Dixit, were killed in a shootout at Chitrakoot jail on Friday morning, senior prison officials said.
Anshu Dixit was shot dead by police after he gunned down Kala and another prisoner, Merajudden, and held several others hostage, the officials added.
Taking note of the incident, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report within six hours from director general of prisons Anand Kumar. The chief minister also directed Kumar, along with a joint team of Chitrakoot divisional commissioner DK Singh, inspector general (IG) K Satya Narain and deputy IG, Prisons, Sanjiv Tripathi, to probe the incident.
The state government also suspended jail superintendent S P Tripathi and jailer Mahendra Pal for lapses in security and initiated a departmental inquiry against the duo. UP prison headquarters spokesperson Santosh Verma said the incident occurred at around 10 am when the prisoners were allowed to leave their barracks.
Verma said Dixit opened fire and killed two prisoners. He also held five other prisoners hostage and threatened to kill them before a team of police arrived at the spot and gunned him down, he added.
Armed jail personnel as well as police have been deployed at the prison premises to avoid any further trouble, he said.
Terming the shootout as a major security lapse, Kumar said it is not clear as to how Dixit managed to get a firearm inside the prison. He added that a comprehensive search operation was carried out in the presence of local district authorities and a probe is underway.
Kumar also said that P N Pandey, deputy inspector general (DIG), prisons, Allahabad, rushed to Chitakoot to conduct a detailed inquiry and assured strict action against those found responsible for the lapses.
According to Verma, Dixit was transferred from Sultanpur jail to Chitrakoot in December 2019 while Kala was brought here from Saharanpur jail in March this year. Merajudeen was transferred from Varanasi jail barely a week ago.
A senior police official, on the condition of anonymity, said Kala had over 61 criminal cases, including murders of three policemen, registered against him in the past one decade. He added that Kala’s gang was involved in extortion from traders and businessmen in west UP. Several traders from Kairana, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts have fled to other places in the past few years, the official added. Merajudden, the official said, was a close aide of gangster-turned-politician Muktar Ansari who is presently lodged in Banda jail. He had 23 cases registered against him. Dixit had eight criminal cases.