The state government has decided to lodge FIRs against prisoners and undertrials trying to commit suicide or immolate themselves inside jails or court lock-ups during the detention period.

Sources said the decision of the police headquarters to expedite trial of cases in various districts courts against gangsters has made the accused panicky. The impending threat of punishment has made prisoners and undertrials desperate to try escaping the situation— be it by attempting suicide or self-immolation or by inflicting injuries on the body.

Gaurav Kumar, alias Bunty, accused of murder, loot and extortion and at present lodged in Khudiram Bose Central Jail, made an abortive bid to self-immolate in the court lock-up during production for speedy trial on May 12.

The district police decided to nail him when the police filed chargesheet and put his case on speedy trial. The superintendent of Khudiram Bose Central Jail, Vishwanath Prasad, said: “I readily informed the top jail officers regarding the prisoners facing speedy trial.”

Prasad added that at present, 25 prisoners face speedy trial in various cases in the district court.