Lucknow, July 21 (IANS) Following Tuesday’s sensational Meerut jail-break, the Uttar Pradesh Police went into damage control mode Wednesday by simultaneously carrying out raids in several prisons across the state.
Interestingly, nothing incriminating other than a whole lot of shaving blades were recovered from the inmates. However, one mobile phone, two chargers and two SIM cards were unearthed from some places.
Jails at Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Sitapur, Faizabad, Hamirpur and Basti were among those raided.
In the Meerut jail-break, nine prisoners escaped in the early hours of Tuesday. Seven of them were murder convicts undergoing life imprisonment. They had used a narrow toilet window to slip away from captivity.
‘What is alarming is that the inmates managed to cut the steel rods on the window and then use the drainpipes to scale down the high prison walls’, Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal told IANS.
‘We have declared a reward of Rs.15,000 on the heads of each of the escaped prisoners and we are confident of soon tracking them down,’ he said.
Commenting on the increasing incidents of jail-breaks and violation of the jail manual in the state, he did not rule out the possibility of active connivance of jail officials.
‘We have suspended a dozen officials, including the senior jail superintendent and the jailor in Meerut. More such stringent action will follow in other places wherever jail officials are found to be lax about their duty’, he added.
