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| SECURE SHELTER |
Jamshedpur, Sept. 6: Twenty undertrials will be soon shifted from Chaibasa Divisional Jail to Ghaghidih Central Jail after last month’s sensational breakout that prompted a similar decision to rid 100 inmates from a Seraikela prison.
A senior officer said two jailbreaks within seven months in the Kolhan region had compelled the Chaibasa prison authorities to consider shifting the 20, all of whom are Naxalites.
“A decision to lodge undertrials, especially hardcore Naxalites, in various central jails of the state had been taken in January, days after the escape of three prisoners from Chaibasa divisional jail. But the authorities here were forced to follow this strategy following the incident at Seraikela divisional jail,” the prison officer added.
The inmates of the Chaibasa jail are likely to be shifted by the end of this month, sources added.
The superintendent of Chaibasa divisional jail, Kishore Lakra, said a list of hardcore Naxalites had been prepared according to the instructions of IG (prisons) Bijay Kumar Singh.
“The undertrials had to be shifted to a high-security jail, which is why Ghaghidih Central Jail has been chosen,” Lakra told The Telegraph. He said the overcrowded Chaibasa jail was lodging 950 undertrials and that those considered veterans would be shifted to other prisons.
On January 17, three Maoists, who were under trial for killing security personnel in Saranda, fled the jail. Meanwhile, six undertrials, including two Maoists, escaped from the Seraikela jail at gunpoint on August 17. One of the fugitive, Balram Sahu, alias David, a hardcore rebel, had also tried to flee from Ranchi Central Jail on December 30, 2010, at gunpoint, but was overpowered by prison guards.
Sources said it was after the breakout of the trio from Chaibasa divisional jail that Sahu hatched a plot to get himself shifted from Ranchi to the Seraikela prison.
Sources added that a list of the undertrials, including top ranking rebels, was being prepared in consultation with senior prison officers in the Seraikela jail and additional IG Deepak Vidyarthy.
