‘Rampage’ at Gorakhpur jail: Over 270 prisoners booked

The FIR was registered under IPC section 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) against 21 named inmates including Daya Shankar and 250 unidentified inmates based on a complaint by Mishra, said station officer, Shahpur police station, Arun Pawar.

On Saturday, DIG (prison) V P Tripathi reached Gorakhpur jail and began an inquiry into by recording statements of jail staff and a few inmates.

According to Pawar, the complainant has said the sequence of events started Thursday when Daya Shankar and his associates beat up another inmate Rohit Shahi and his aides, including Navneet, at a court lock-up. They had gone to take part in proceedings of a case.

After returning to jail Thursday, Rohit Shahi filed a complaint with the office of the jail Superintendent. Both Rohit and Daya Shankar were called and told to settle the matter or face administrative action.

“The complainant said that to avoid any administrative action against him and to build pressure on jail staff, Daya Shankar reached the place were roll-calls of prisoners were on Friday. He started abusing jail staff present there, as per the complaint,” said Pawar.

Several other prisoners joined Daya Shankar and created a ruckus inside the jail. Inmates damaged jail property and also pelted stones at jail staff and attacked jailor Prem Sagar Shukla and deputy jailors Prabha Kant and Bhola Nath Pandey, said police.

During the protest, prisoners broke a CCTV camera, damaged furniture and threw utensils. They allegedly attacked jailor Prem Sagar Shukla and deputy jailor Prabha Kant when they tried to pacify them. However, no one was injured in the clash.

The situation was brought under control when the Gorakhpur DM and SSP reached jail with police force, sources said.