Battle ground

Patna, Sept. 18: Security has been beefed up at Beur Central Jail following Saturday’s scuffle between a group of jail inmates and the jail personnel.

Sources told The Telegraph that a team of prison department officials visited Golghar ward late on Friday night and allegedly tortured some inmates on the pretext of carrying out search operation in the wards. The prisoners alleged that at least half a dozen inmates were brutally beaten up while several others received burn injuries of cigarette butts.

The administration has beefed up security in the wake of volatile situation prevailing inside the jail, which is at present housing about 2,500 prisoners, including some top-ranking Maoist leaders.

The inmates of the jail, which houses about 2,500 prisoners and a number of senior Maoist leaders, went berserk and created a scene inside the prison on Saturday. They protested against the alleged high-handedness of the jail officials. The prisoners also went on hunger strike and staged a dharna. The agitation launched by the inmates, which was supported by the Maoist leaders, put the prison officials in a spot of bother.

The deteriorating health condition of Ajay Kanu, the alleged mastermind of Jehanabad jailbreak, added fuel to the fire. The supporters of Kanu came out in the open to extend their support to the dharna and also shouted slogans against the jail administration. They demanded that Kanu be shifted to a hospital.

The jail wardens, who have been assigned to maintain internal security, raised an alarm. Subsequently, security personnel headed by the incumbent jail superintendent Shivendra Priyadarshi arrived and used force to bring the situation under control.

The injured have been identified as Mukesh Das, Radheshyam Yadav, Lalit Mishra, Vikas Kumar, Birendra Kumar and Aftab Alam. Some of the victims are pursuing studies from Nalanda Open University, sources said.

The jail superintendent, however, denied the use of force from outside to maintain law and order inside the jail. He said an intensive search operation was carried out in the wards, which yielded seizure of 19 mobile phones, 11 mobile chargers, six SIM cards and about 500gm of marijuana.

Priyadarshi told The Telegraph that the drive was a part of the mock drill carried out by the jail authorities on Friday night. “In fact, a mock drill had not been carried out in the high security prison for long. The operation, which began at around 9.15pm, ended around 1am. During the period all the wards were searched,” he said.

The jail superintendent said objectionable items, which are not allowed inside the prison, were also recovered during the operation. “To our surprise, many prisoners were found to be using luxury articles and fitness kits in the wards,” he said, adding that a complaint has been lodged with the police station concerned.

Sources said around 350 activists of CPI(Maoist), including 50 hardcore Maoist leaders and 25 hardened gangsters are lodged in the jail.