Gangsters tried diversion tactics to make escape bid

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, March 25

Twenty-odd gangsters threatened to explode an LPG cylinder in an attempt to divert the attention of the authorities from a group of inmates who were busy creating an opening in the 13-inch thick outer concrete wall of the jail.

Police sources say the cylinder was taken in possession by some hardened criminals around midnight. The gangsters then kept threatening the jail staff that they would explode it. A few hundred yards away, a group of 100 prisoners were busy creating a breach in the wall in the western part of the compound. The drama went on for sometime before the officers finally realised that it was a ploy to divert their attention.

The sources say that gangsters Jagtar Singh, Amit Gill and Pardeep Uppal were the ones who planned and executed the tactic.

“The prisoners used farm implements taken from the jail tool room to create a hole in the wall. They almost succeeded but when our guards spotted unusual movement, we decided to use tear gas following which the prisoners retreated,” said a jail staffer.

Naunihal Singh, IG (Border), said he and other officers tried to negotiate with the prisoners who were threatening to explode the cylinder. “They kept making demands such as bringing back some gangsters who were shifted to other jails a few hours ago. They were holding the entire administration to ransom. We finally asked them to either go back to their barracks or face the consequences,” said the IG who spent the night coordinating with senior officers.

Rohit Chaudhary, ADGP (Prisons), said: “When it was clear that the inmates had developed a mob mentality, meaning most were blindly following the diktats of a few, we were left with no option but to retaliate.”