3 UP Jail Officials Suspended After "Objectionable Material' Found In Prisons

Three senior jail superintendents were suspended after "objectionable material" was found in their prisons during a search conducted on April 1, an official said on Tuesday.

Police, however, did not immediately identify the "objectionable material".

Shashikant Singh, senior jail superintendent of Naini Central Prison in Prayagraj; Avinash Gautam, senior jail superintendent of Banda district prison; and Rajeev Shukla, senior jail superintendent of Bareilly district prison, were suspended for administrative laxity after "objectionable material" was found in their prisons on April 1, a jail department official told PTI.

On March 13, six Bareilly district jail officials, including the jailor and deputy jailor, were suspended for facilitating illegal meetings of visitors with gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed's brother Ashraf, who has been lodged in the prison since July 2020.

The action was taken on the basis of an inquiry report of DIG (Prison) R N Pandey.

Police sources had earlier said that nine members of the Atiq Ahmad gang had met Ashraf in Bareilly district jail on February 11 and allegedly hatched the conspiracy to kill Umesh Pal -- a key witness in the BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case.

Umesh Pal and his police security guards Sandeep Nishad and Raghvendra Singh were shot dead on February 24 outside his home in Prayagraj's Dhoomanganj.

Based on a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal's wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station against Atiq Ahmad, his wife Shaista Parveen, Ashraf, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Ghulam, and nine others.

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