Seasoned criminals Cheenu Pandit and Sunil Rathi who are responsible for the gang war outside the jail campus on Tuesday were living in luxury inside the Roorkee Jail.
Rathi, who has been in Roorkee jail, for the past two years was accused of murdering deputy jailer, Roorkee, Naresh Khampa in 2011. State Director General of Police BS Sidhu said that in the aftermath of the shootout outside the jail, police had recovered mobile phones and coolers which were used by Cheenu Pandit and Sunil Rathi while being ensconced in the jail.
Roorkie sub-jail jailer Rakesh Verma chose to keep mum when this correspondent asked him why he had not taken initiative with the State Government to have Rathi shifted to another gaol when he was the prime accused in the 2011 murder case involving then Roorkie deputy jailer Khampa. Political pressure on the jail officers can account for the hardened criminals enjoying creature comforts inside the jail compound, observers said.