Inmates in the district jail at Kannaunj went on rampage after one of the inmates was found hanging with the ceiling of his barrack under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday night.
They attacked the jail staff and pelted stones on them alleging that the harassment and torture by jail superintendent and other staff had forced the inmate to commit suicide so a case be registered against them in the matter.
Surprisingly, the local district police chief and district magistrate who reached the jail in the wee hours had summoned additional force from neighbouring district to defuse the situation. The matter could be only brought under control after senior officers assured of conducting a probe and taking action against the guilty. They also sent a report in this regard to the District Judge to appoint some magistrate so that judicial probe which is mandatory in cases of custody death could be made in the matter. It may be mentioned that Kannauj, is a VVIP district of the state as it is represented in the Parliament by
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav. Reports said that 51-year-old Kamlesh, a resident of Thadia area of Kannauj was lodged in local district jail. He was arrested in connection with culpable homicide case (casecrime no- 197/12 under section 304IPC) registered with the Thadia police station. He was lodged in district jail on May9 last and the matter was under trial in the local court.
Reports further said that on Wednesday night, some inmates found Kamlesh hanging with the ceiling inside his barrack No-3. The inmates got agitated over it and they reportedly claimed that the superintendent of the jail was harassing the prisoners particularly Kamlesh hence the victim hanged himself to commit suicide just in depression. They demanded to get a case registered in the matter and to take action against the jail superintendent.
However, the matter took a violent turn when the jail staff used force to push the inmates back into the barracks. The inmates attacked the jail staff which reportedly rushed back to take shelter in the office. The inmates also climbed over the jail boundary and started pelting stones at the cops of local police station which reached the spot to control the situation. later finding the situation going out of control, jail superintendent sounded an alert and informed the incident to DM, Dr Rupesh Kumar and district police chief, Subash Shakya who both reached the spot along with heavy police force.
later the cops fought pitch battle all through the night and could brought the situation under control in the wee hours of Thursday. Several inmates as well as jail staff included a deputy jailer sustained injuries in the clash. Heavy police force is still camping in the area to avert any fresh untoward incident.