A building adjacent to the boundary wall of Beur Central Jail. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, March 8: High on alert following intelligence reports on a possible jailbreak, Beur Central Jail on the outskirts of Patna has become vulnerable to Maoist attacks because of several highrises in its periphery. Taking shelter in any of them, the rebels can conduct an operation to free their top leaders housed in it.

Expressing concern over the multi-storeyed buildings near the prison, superintendent of the jail Om Prakash Gupta said: “The rebels or associates of dreaded ganglords can virtually lay a siege to the jail after holding captive the residents of the houses constructed within 100m of the prison. These private buildings have posed a serious security threat to the jail.”

The central jail houses over 2,500 prisoners, including 300 hardcore Maoists and dons. Around 30 top Maoist leaders and ganglords, including Ajay Kanu (central committee member), Bhaskar, Sudama Prasad, Guddu Sharma, Subody alias Lambu and Bindu Singh, are lodged in the jail. Kanu has been charged with masterminding the Jehanabad jailbreak incident in November 2005.

Intelligence inputs suggested that the Maoists could take shelter in the houses adjacent to the boundary walls of the jail to carry out their operation. “Dense settlement along the southern, northern and western boundaries of the jail is a big threat to the jail security. Taking advantage of it, rebels can sneak into the area and throw objectionable items on the jail premises,” the jail superintendent said.

“Three persons were arrested while trying to throw banned items into the jail in 2010,” Gupta told The Telegraph.

The jail administration drew the attention of the department concerned towards the rising number of houses in the vicinity of the prison on several occasions. It first sent a letter to the government on January 20, 2008 recommending land acquisition measuring 7.425 acres surrounding the jail. Again it sent a letter on August 13, 2008 asking for acquisition of 100-ft-wide strip surrounding the jail. The letter clearly mentioned about two- to three-storey buildings being constructed on private land adjacent to the boundary wall of the jail. A fresh requisition for 0.05 acres of land was submitted to the government on July 24, 2009.

A writ petition was filed in Patna High Court after the residents protested the Beur jail administration’s move for land acquisition, pleading it would block their passage. A division bench comprising the then Chief Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice Kishore Kumar Mandal disposed of the petition saying that there was no question of blocking the passage to the inhabitants of the locality.

Subsequently, the government sanctioned Rs 13.46 crore in March 2009 to the Patna district administration for acquisition of land measuring 7.424 decimals. The Patna district magistrate was asked to complete the land acquisition process during the 2008-09 financial year. “But there has been no progress on this front so far,” a senior prison department official said.

A senior official of the home department said the letter of the IG (prisons), S. Shiv Kumar, regarding the sanction of the fund was issued on March 18, 2009 and the financial year came to an end on March 31. “The treasury raised its objection over the release of the funds,” he said.

The Patna police have stepped up surveillance around the jail. Deputy superintendent of police (Phulwari) Rakesh Kumar Dubey said: “Three policemen and an officer have been deployed to keep a close watch on the activities of people passing through the road adjacent to the jail.”