Around half-a-dozen under trials on Friday went on rampage in Gurdaspur jail after attacking two members of jail staff, forcing the security guards to open fire in the air, to rein in them.
In a no holds barred, the inmates indulged in brick-batting, burning down the jail beds and smashing CCTV s and jammers installed in the jail premises. Smoke could be seen coming out of the jail premises.
Virtually a riot broke out at Gurdapsur central jail after gangsters—Jagtar Singh and Gurpreet Singh — beat up two jail staff members.
They were reportedly thrashed by few under trials with plastic pipes, the police said adding that the under trials were upset over the increased security measures curtailing their visitation rights.
Rioters even lit fires, prompting Jail superintendent DS Saini to alert Senior Superintendent of Police Bhupinderjeet Singh Virk and call for back up. “Seven to eight under trials were possibly involved in this incident,” said Virk.
When other jail staff members saw their two members being beaten up, they tried to stop the under trials. “Three to four shots were fired in the air by the jail staff to control the situation,” said the SSP.
He said that under trials indulged in brick-batting, setting the beds of the barracks on fire. They even smashed a CCTV, uprooting the power lines and hand pumps.
The fire brigade was called to douse fire, while an anti-riot vehicle was kept on standby. Meanwhile, the jail road was closed to traffic.
The incident occurred a day before IG (Border) Naunihal Singh is scheduled to visit the city.
Senior officials including DIG Ferozepur Range Surinder Singh Saini, rushed to the jail to take stock of the situation.
Sources maintained that the poor inmates-staff ratio at the jail, that is 1500:90, frequently led to tensions in the prison.
Notably, six prisoners including two terrorists were freed by a group of armed men from high security Nabha jail in Patiala district in November last year.