Another warder of Rae Bareli jail suspended

LUCKNOW : Another warder was suspended on Wednesday in the wake of a purported video going viral on social media, showing inmates drinking and making an extortion call to a trader from the district jail in Rae Bareli.

Twelve jails officials, including seven superintendents, four jailers and one deputy jailer were shifted to other jails.

A senior prison department official confirmed that yet another warder Vijay Narain was suspended after it was found he was involved in the incident. A departmental inquiry was also initiated against him. He said the transfer of jail officials was done under routine process.

Earlier, on November 26, jail superintendent Pramod Kumar Shukla, 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 .

In the video, Anshu Dixit, one of the inmates is heard asking the trader to provide Rs 10,000 to the jailer at his residence and Rs 5,000 to the deputy jailer. He also seeks liquor and other things inside the jail. A few bullets can be lseen ying on Dixit’s bed.

The video surfaced months after authorities claimed to have increased security in jails and curbed a "nexus between criminals and prison personnel" following gangster Munna Bajrangi’ 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 a pistol and multiple cartridges inside the jail.

The official said the inmates seen in the video had already been transferred to different jails on November 19.

Additional director general (prisons) Chandra Prakash said an initial inquiry had found that the inmates had made the video before November 2 and intentionally circulated it on the social media.