The superintendent in charge of Arthur Road Central Jail has been replaced after he expressed his inability to work due to health reasons.
Deepak Pandey, Inspector General of Police, Prisons, issued an order on Friday replacing N.B. Vaychal with J.S. Naik, former principal of Taloja Training College attached to Taloja Central Jail.
A senior officer from the prisons department said, “Mr. Vaychal was working from home after 14 days in home quarantine. On Friday, in a telephonic conversation, he told us that his doctors advised him to take leave as he had high blood pressure and other co-morbidities. As Arthur Road jail is too important a posting to be kept vacant given the circumstances, the order was issued immediately.”
The officer said Mr. Vaychal will resume duty at Ratnagiri prison after his leave, where he was posted before being transferred to Arthur Road jail.
Officials said the action was not punitive, but an emergency measure as 158 inmates and 28 personnel had tested positive for COVID-19 at the jail. A slew of measures has been taken such as creating quarantine wards at the jail and releasing several inmates on bail.
