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| Khudiram Bose Memorial Central Jail. Telegraph picture |
Muzaffarpur, Nov. 19: The inmates of Khudiram Bose Memorial Central Jail are facing a territorial fight these days.
Earlier, the Maoists languishing in the jail were posing trouble but now it is the turn of prisoners who have declared a war of supremacy within themselves inside jail.
The mysterious death of a prisoner, Dulare Sheikh (35) on November 9 and subsequent injuries inflicted to another undertrial, Mohammad Rizwan (30) in a clash that took place in hajat room in the periphery of the district court recently, has exposed the loosing grip of jail authorities in tackling wayward prisoners and undertrials.
Moreover, injured Rizwan of Barhampura locality, who was jailed by Barhampura police in connection with a case of loot lodged an FIR with the town police station on November 12 against Chandan Kumar, another undertrial, for demanding money.
Rizwan sustained head and body injuries when Chandan allegedly assaulted him in hajat during production to the court. Rizwan in the FIR stated that he was asked to cough up extortion money by Chandan who literally ruled the roost inside the jail at the behest of jail authorities.
According to the FIR lodged by Rizwan, jail officials are hand in glove with Chandan, who dictated terms and exerted pressure on the warden to allot beds inside the ward called Ganga Khatal.
Ganga Khatal is a bigger and neat ward and has a huge accommodating capacity. It is also considered a paradise in jail owing to its facilities. In view of growing indiscipline and deteriorating law and order situation inside the jail, the additional inspector-general (AIG), prison, U.K. Sharan visited the Central Jail and took stock of the situation.
The AIG examined the reason behind the mysterious death of Dulare Sheikh and met Rizwan. Thereafter, the AIG quizzed jail officials including the wardens and other prisoners to ascertain the truth behind the incident of skirmishes and extortion menace by influential jailbirds that has hampered the functioning of the jail administration.
Jail officials have taken a serious note of demand of extortion money by a few prisoners including Chandan Kumar. He has been shifted in the cell of the jail. Superintendent of Central Jail, Vishwanath Prasad said that Dulare Sheikh had committed suicide and added that the jail administration was burning the midnight oil to clip wings of a few wayward prisoners and undertrials.
Prasad said that the regular checking of wards has been intensified for observing the activities of the prisoners.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sunil Kumar said that the police have initiated investigating the case Rizwan, regarding demand of extortion and intimidation by Chandan Kumar.