A gang war, which started outside the Tihar Jail premises on Wednesday found its way inside, leading to a bloody clash that left two inmates dead and 12 injured.
The prisoners involved in the confrontation are undertrials and were lodged at a high-risk ward in Tihar’s prison number one.
“The prisoners have been in and out of jail for sometime now. Some of them are learnt to have been rivals even outside the prison,” said Mukesh Prasad, Additional IG (Prisons).
Almost each of them was involved in at least half-a-dozen cases of assaults and other heinous crimes outside. Most of them have been in jail for one to two years now.
The gang involved in the attack included the deceased Anil, Vasu and Sandeep. Prima facie it has emerged that the three had chosen a blind spot behind a water purification plant outside jail number one where they were lodged.
Jail authorities said, among other things, it will be investigated how the gang managed to roam around so freely for so long outside.
The three of them were equipped with sharp weapons carved from iron scraps they find inside the jail premises from time to time, said jail officials. Their target inmate, Ishwar, was on a visit to the prison’s health facility to get his eyes checked. As he returned, escorted by two jail staff, the trio chased him before pinning him down and viciously assaulting him with sharp weapons.
“Finding himself in a desperate situation, Ishwar dug out a large stone from the ground and attacked Anil. He soon found help from his friends Vijay and Shadab who learnt of the clash and joined the battle,” said a jail official.
While Ishwar and five other prisoners were rushed to DDU Hospital, Anil was initially treated and retained at the prison’s health centre itself. “Anil’s condition deteriorated sometime later. It was later learnt that he had sustained internal injuries when Ishwar attacked him with the stone,” said the official. Ishwar had already succumbed at DDU Hospital by then.
Meanwhile, the incident led to several family and friends of the dead and injured prisoners rushing to DDU Hospital in Hari Nagar where they were taken for treatment.
It led to some tense moments as the agitated relatives got into a quarrel with the police personnel. Pushpendra Kumar, DCP (West), said that there was no physical confrontation.
A murder case has been registered at Hari Nagar police station and the incident is being probed by police as well as the jail authorities.