Clash in prison leaves one dead

A prisoner was shot dead while three others reportedly suffered bullet injuries at Dum Dum Central Jail, one of the largest prisons in West Bengal, after the police allegedly opened fire on them after a large number of inmates went on the rampage to protest a ban on meeting family members.

The measure was implemented to tackle the

Covid-19 pandemic. Taking advantage of the situation many of them even tried to escape by scaling the boundary wall. The victim, Kamalesh Mahato, 28, was arrested by the Khardah police in North

24 Parganas two years ago under Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act case. He died in police firing, his family members alleged.

The Presidency Central Jail in Alipore of south Kolkata also witnessed similar protests in the afternoon when the prisoners got into a verbal duel with the jail authorities over the restrictions in the afternoon.

Waking up to the two incidents, the Mamata Banerjee government in the evening removed senior IPS officer Arun Kumar Gupta from the post of director general of correctional services which covers the prisons. He has been replaced by IPS officer Peeyush Pandey.

On Friday the state correction services department had decided to stop the daily visits of the inmates' family members to avoid the spread of the Covid-19 virus. The prisoners were also told that they would not be allowed to meet their family members daily as part of the precautionary measures, sources revealed.

On Saturday morning the undertrial prisoners in ward no 1 started protesting the decision. When the jail superintendent and other prison officials tried to pacify them, they demanded the release of the convicted prisoners on parole, according to sources. But the prison authorities rejected their demand. This led to an altercation between the two sides.