The notorious criminal from the dreaded Sunil Rathi gang Sachin Khokhar has been shifted to Nainital jail from Haridwar district jail on Wednesday. As per the jail sources, the decision was taken by the jail authorities after they concluded that he had instigated other inmates of the prison to stage hunger strike in protest against the revised rules regarding the visitors. Sources further said that more such transfers are on the cards with many hardened criminals presently being lodged in the Haridwar district jail. Confirming that Khokhar had been shifted to the Nainital jail, the jail superintendent B P Pandey said that the decision was an imperative in view of the current situation in the jail.
Police seems convinced that the gangsters lodged in the district jail are behind the recent spurt in the crimes like murder and robbery. “They were planning crimes from behind the prison cells and were having them executed through their cronies. The district administration officials remain perturbed over news of the gangsters passing on messages to their aides to undertake crimes through the informers who come in the garb of the visitors. Hence the decision to video-record such meetings. IG Jail P V K Prasad also directed the district jailer to reduce the duration and frequency of such meetings between the prison inmates and their visitors,” a senior district jail officer said.
However, the revised rules sent the prisoners to stage hunger strike on Monday. They ended the strike the same evening following their talks with the ADM lalit Narayan Mishra. But they again refrained from taking food presumably at the instigation of Sachin Khokhar, said the jail sources.