A day after the violence in Puzhal central prison here on Friday that left four jail staff injured, six members of the banned Al Umma outfit, lodged in the high-security block, were shifted early on Saturday to different prisons across the State.
Forty other inmates of the high-security block were sent to other blocks in the Puzhal prison complex, sources in the Prison Department told The Hindu.
According to the sources, Khaja Moideen was taken to Salem, Abdulla alias Abdulla Muthalip to Tiruchi, Munna alias Mohammed Rafiq to Coimbatore, Fakruddin alias ‘Police’ Fakruddin to Vellore, Mohammed Ismail alias Panna Ismail to Madurai and Bilal Malik to Cuddalore central prisons.
The clashes in which two jail personnel were taken hostage and four others injured, was a fallout of an altercation over use of mobile phones in the prison and visitors bringing in prohibited food items. The Al Umma cadres attacked prison staff with carrom board and stones, the sources added.
They have been booked under 12 Sections including Section 148 of the IPC – (rioting with deadly weapons), Section 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), Section 307 (attempt to murder) and the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
“All the inmates should not have been lodged in the same place. They seemed to have planned this attack and it was not all of a sudden,” said a police officer. “They will now be brought from all these jails simultaneously for court hearing or it can be conducted through video conferencing,” he added.
The four policemen – Ilavarasan (57), jailer, Muthumani, warder, and Selvin Devadass and Ravi Mohan, constables – who sustained injuries on their heads, legs and armsare recovering in hospitals. Muthumani, who sustained head injuries, is undergoing treatment at Apollo hospitals. J.K. Tripathy, Additional Director General of Police (Prisons), visited the injured on Saturday.
