Patna, Jan. 19: Tension brewed in Beur central jail today following a clash between two groups of prisoners over shifting of writers from the prison hospital. The jail authorities had to use force to bring the situation under control.

The trouble erupted around 11am when ganglord Bindu Singh, along with his supporters, reached the office of the jailer, Anand Kumar Sinha, and tried to create a scene over shifting of the writers en masse. But alert security persons foiled their attempt.

Superintendent of the Beur Model Jail Om Prakash Gupta said Bindu had demanded removal of a writer Sujeet Kumar from the jail hospital a few days ago.

“I received Bindu’s complaint two days ago, accusing the writer (Kumar) of committing irregularities,” he said.

The jail superintendent told The Telegraph that instead of shifting only Kumar, the prison authorities transferred all the writers.

“Irked over the prison authorities’ move, Bindu tried to create a scene in the office of the jailer. But alert security men foiled his attempt,” he said, adding that mild force was used to bring the situation under control.

Earlier, former MLA Rajan Tiwari had assaulted some writers in the jail. The security inside the jail was beefed up after the incident.

Writers help the jail authorities in managing the visitors of the prisoners and other petty work. Convicts are usually made writers.

The Beur central jail has mostly remained in the news for wrong reasons. The police often conduct raids either to interrogate the incarcerated gangsters or seize banned items.

Over 2,500 prisoners are at present lodged in the jail. Sources said over two dozen dreaded ganglords and Maoist leaders, including Bindu, Viveka Pahalwan, Guddu Singh and Ajay Kanu, were lodged in the jail. Controversial former MP from Purnea Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav is also serving sentence in the jail.

In September last year, a police team led by superintendent of police (City) Manu Maraj searched the wards and recovered over a dozen mobile chargers, SIM cards and other objectionable items, including cash and gold jewellery, from the prisoners. Most of these items were recovered from the wards where dreaded gangsters and Maoist leaders were lodged, a senior police officer said.

Earlier, a team led by deputy superintendent of police (Phulwari) Rakesh Dubey had carried out raids in different wards of the jail and seized 15 mobile phones, 12 chargers, many SIM cards, cash and gold jewellery.

A jail official said the police team had recovered mobile phones from the wards of gangster Bindu, Viveka and Maoist leader Ajay Kanu, the mastermind behind the Jehanabad jailbreak in 2005.