Rioting, arson in Gurdaspur jail

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 24

Inmates went on a rampage in the Gurdaspur central jail this afternoon after two staffers were assaulted, forcing the police to fire into the air to contain rioting.

Trouble started when a jail staffer, Maheshinder Singh, was attacked as he tried to bring two gangsters — Jagtar Singh and Gurpreet Singh — out of the solitary confinement cells. Jail Superintendent DS Saini, who tried to intervene, was also assaulted. This triggered a clash between two groups of inmates, one owing loyalty to the two gangsters.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The jail siren went off thrice at 12.35 pm as inmates set off fires at several places and uprooted power cables and hand pumps.

Soon after, SSP Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk accompanied by senior officers and security personnel arrived at the scene. All 13 Station House Officers of the district also reached the jail even as more police force was requisitioned.

Virk started negotiations with the two sides, but inmates belonging to one group ended the talks and made their way to the roof of a barrack.

The police opened fire into the air to contain them, triggering panic in the area — the Gurdaspur jail is located in the heart of the city.

Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar, who was holding a meeting at nearby Panchayat Bhawan, asked Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sandeep Singh to reach the jail.

Smoke could be seen coming out of the jail premises even as two fire tenders entered the premises to douse the fires. An anti-riot vehicle remained stationed inside as a precautionary measure. Traffic on the jail road was suspended.

The incident occurred on the eve of IG (Border) Naunihal Singh’s visit to the city. In the evening, ADGP (Prisons) Rohit Chowdhury and DIG (Prisons) SS Saini visited the prison and held meetings with officers.

The Deputy Commissioner has ordered an inquiry to be conducted by the SDM. Sources said the inmate-staff ratio at the jail stood at 1,500:90. “Things could have been worse had police reinforcements not arrived quickly,” said a jail official.

Inmates were reportedly teargassed after they sat on a fast. Power supply was disconnected as a precautionary measure. The ADGP (Prisons) reached the spot to take stock of the situation.