Week after inmates’ escape, four jail officials suspended

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana May 22

Minister for Jails Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday ordered the suspension of four officials for dereliction of duty leading to fleeing of two prisoners from Ludhiana Central Jail.

Those suspended are Shamsher Singh Boparai, Superintendent; Manjit Singh Tiwana, Deputy Superintendent; Parwinder Singh, Assistant Superintendent; and Nishan Singh, Head Warder.

The action has been taken on the recommendation of an inquiry conducted by IG (Jail) Roop Kumar Arora.

The jail has been in the news for wrong reasons in the past as well. There have been several instances of smuggling of drugs, mobile phones and banned substances into the jail with the alleged connivance of its staff.

The two escapees were brothers — Harwinder Singh and Jasvir Singh of Rattanpalon village, near Amloh, in Fatehgarh Sahib. The jail authorities had found the two missing during a headcount on May 14.

Rajvir Singh, ADCP, who is probing the case, said raids were conducted at several places, but the accused were yet to be arrested.

In news for wrong reasons

• March 5, 2017: Prisoners thrash and strip an inmate and upload the video on social media.
• March 25: Inmates clash during the visit of a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
• May 9: Three inmates, including two murder convicts, booked for uploading selfies on Facebook.
• September 12: Medical officer  Dr Swarandeep Singh attacked.
• October 9: Head warden suspended and three others served show-cause notices after 120 packets of cigarettes recovered from the premises. 
• December 18: Honey, an undertrial, attacked with sharp weapons by four inmates.
• January 2018: Sacked ASI, accused of robbery and money laundering, commits suicide in jail washroom.
• February: Jail warden arrested for trying to smuggle almost 300 intoxicant pills in his turban in the jail.
• March 29: Four inmates attack a guard and pour hot ‘dal’ on him when he intervened in a scuffle between prisoners.
• March 20: Jail inmates clash over the issue of using washroom. Gangster Sukha Barewalia sustains injuries.