Firing inside Chitrakoot jail: 3 criminals killed

Chitrakoot, May 14: Three dreaded criminals were killed in a firing inside the Chitrakoot District jail on Friday morning, police here said.
According to police, an inmate shot dead two criminals in a high security barrack in the jail this morning following which police gunned down the killer in an encounter.
At around 1000 hrs, Anshu Dikshit shot dead Mukim Kala of west UP and Meraz Ali of eastern UP before holding five other prisoners captive in the high security barrack, police said in a statement.
Later, SP and DM rushed to the spot and asked Dikshit to free the five captive prisoners but he refused and pointed pistols at them, forcing the police to shoot him, the statement read.
Following the incident, the authorities launched a major search operation inside the jail to locate more weapons if any.
Officials claimed that the situation was normal now and a probe has been ordered to find out how the weapon used by Anshu was smuggled inside the jail.
However police claimed that preliminary probe suggest that the incident was related to gang rivalry between the criminal groups inside the jail.
DIG jails PN Pandey has rushed from Prayagraj, while some officials are also arriving from Lucknow to investigate the incident.
Dikshit, a native of Sultanpur, was shifted to Chitrakoot jail in December 2019.
Kala was a dreaded criminal of west UP and had a network of criminal empire in region of Shamli, Muzzafarnagar and west UP. He was shifted to Chitrakoot jail from Saharanpur jail recently. There are at least 61 criminal cases of murder, kidnapping and other crime pending in west UP against Kala.
In February, Kala’s mother had moved a petition in Allahabad high court fearing murder of her son inside the jail.
Meraz Ali, reported to be an associate of Mafia don Mukhtar Ansari, was transferred from Varanasi jail on March 20 last. He used to handle the criminal activities of Ansari in west UP with the help of Kala after the death of Munna Bajrangi.
After the incident, security in the nearby Banda jail has been tightened where mafia don Mukhtar Ansari is lodged.
Mukhtar’s family had already raised the issue of threat on his life inside UP jail in the Supreme Court.
The state witnessed a similar incident on July 9, 2018 sharp shooter Munna Bajrangi was shot dead in a similar manner inside the Bagpat jail.
Criminal Sunil Rathi killed Munna Bajrangi with a 9 mm pistol. CBI is probing the killing and Sunil Rathi is presently lodged in the Fatehgarh jail.