1 suspended for Rajasthan jail gangwar

The Congress has demanded CBI inquiry into the incident alleging that a minister had met one of the gangsters during the state Cabinet campaign in Bikaner

Even as the Opposition alleged that a minister in the Vasundhara Raje government had met a gangster in Bikaner jail in June linking it with Thursday’s incident in which three notorious criminals were killed and three others were seriously injured in gang war inside the jail, the state government suspended a havaldar in suspicion of facilitating supply of firearms to criminals along with the jailer and two security guards following the outbreak of gang war on Thursday.

The Congress has demanded CBI inquiry into the incident alleging that a minister had met one of the gangsters when the state Cabinet was camping in Bikaner for “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” ( government at your doorstep) campaign in June.

“The entire conspiracy was hatched when the state Cabinet was camping in Bikaner,” Congress chief whip Govind Singh Dotasara alleged. He asked if the government was willing to investigate as to which public representative or a minister went to the jail to meet the gang leader and demanded that their call details should also be checked.

Later, most Opposition members led by the Congress staged a walk out for the rest of the day after the government refused to accept the demand for CBI inquiry. Gulab Chand Kataria, the standing in for chief minister Vasundhara Raje who holds home department, announced inquiry by the special operation group ( SOG) even though he admitted that he was also not satisfied by just suspension of a few jail personnel as the entire incident raises suspicion.

Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged failure of law and order in the state.

“There is no government in the state. forget good governance, there is not even governance,” he said while referring to outbreak of gangwar in Bikaner jail on Thursday night.

Mr Gehlot also demanded inquiry into a minister’s visit to the jail. “I have come to know that a minister visited the Bikaner jail while the government was in Bikaner.”