Major security breach inside UP’s Chitrakoot jail, 3 gangsters shot dead

According to police, Mukeem Kala, who hails from western UP, and Mirajudeen alias Miraj, an associate of jailed MLA Mukhtar Ansari, were shot dead by Anshu Dixit, a known gangster who was lodged in a different barrack. The motive is yet to be ascertained, police said.

Kala was at the centre of allegations levelled by the BJP in 2016 of a mass exodus from Kairana town because of threats from his gang. He was shifted to Chitrakoot jail from Saharanpur just five days ago. Miraj was shifted to Chitrakoot on March 20 from a Varanasi jail.

Detailing the sequence of events, a jail official said that around 9 am, Dixit reached the barrack of Kala and Miraj and opened fire with a .9 mm pistol. He returned to his barrack, held five other inmates captive and threatened to kill them.

Senior officials tried to convince Dixit to surrender, and an hour later, he allowed three of the hostages to move out, the official said. “But he refused to let out the other two, and the police shot him dead to rescue the prisoners,” the official said.

“When police were trying to convince Dixit to surrender, he fired on them. Police fired in retaliation, and Dixit suffered injuries leading to his death,” Chitrakoot SP Ankit Mittal said.

A three-member team of Chitrakoot Dham Commissioner D K Singh, IG (Chitrakoot Range) K Satya Narayan and DIG (Jail) Sanjeev Tripathi has been directed to conduct an inquiry and submit a report.

“We are probing how Anshu managed to obtain the pistol. No one had come to meet him inside the prison in a long time, and he had not been moved out either,” an official said.

Hailing from Shamli, Mukeem Kala had 61 criminal cases against him, including on charges of murder, attempt to murder and dacoity. Miraj, who hailed from Ghazipur, had 14 cases against on charges of murder, attempt to murder and forgery, and others under the Arms Act.

Dixit was a native of Sitapur, and had eight cases against him including attempt to murder and extortion. Among the cases he was linked to was the murder of Lucknow University students’ union leaders Vinod Tripathi and Gaurav Singh.

In 2018, a video had surfaced purportedly showing Dixit and other inmates of Rae Bareli jail making extortion calls, and naming the jailor and deputy jailor.