A jail official claimed that the video was shot inside barrack no. 10 of the prison in October. (File)Six officials of Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district jail were suspended Monday after a video showing inmates allegedly consuming liquor, instructing aides to deliver them money via prison staff and issuing death threats over the phone went viral. The state government has ordered a probe.
In the video, a group of inmates is seen sitting together inside a barrack, with food, filled glasses and packets of cigarettes strewn around. At one point, the video zooms into what appear to be bullets on the floor. One of the inmates is seen telling an aide on the phone to hand over Rs 10,000 to the jailor at the latter’s residence and Rs 5,000 to the deputy jailor at the prison gate while bringing in a liquor bottle. Another inmate then takes the same phone to make a call and threatens someone referred to as “Gupta”, while hurling abuses.
Those suspended were identified as senior jail superintendent Pramod Kumar Shukla, jailor Govind Ram Verma, deputy jailor Ram Chandra Tiwari and warders Lalta Prasad Upadhyay, Gangaram and Shiv Mangal Singh. “A departmental inquiry has been initiated against these officials,” said ADG, Prisons, Chandra Prakash.
A jail official claimed that the video was shot inside barrack no. 10 of the prison in October. It surfaced on social media on November 21, two days after four of the six criminals seen in the video were transferred to different jails on administrative grounds, the official added.
ADG Prakash added that the official procedure to transfer all six inmates — accused in cases of murder, attempt to murder and robery — seen in the video, had been initiated earlier. Of the six, two identified as Sandeep Singh and Sohrab were shifted out of Rae Bareli jail on November 2 and 10, respectively. On a court directive, Sandeep was shifted to Sultanpur jail, while Sohrab was sent to Tihar jail in Delhi, he added. The other four inmates allegedly seen in the video — Anshu Dixit, Nikhil Sonkar, Ajeet Choubey and Dal Shringar Singh — were shifted out on November 19.
