Fourteen years following a clash at Orai jail in Jalaun district that resulted in the deaths of two undertrials, a court has convicted the former jailer, six constables, and seven jail inmates of murder. They have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
District and Sessions (Jalaun) Judge Lallu Singh, on Wednesday, also levied a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the 14 convicts.
During the March 2010 clash at Orai jail, Prince Ahmad and Nazir Khan, both alleged associates of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, were killed, while 13 others sustained injuries.
As per an official from the Prosecution Department, Nazir’s father, Ayub Khan, filed a complaint accusing jail officials at Orai prison of extorting money from inmates. He alleged that his son was killed after failing to pay money to the jailer and other prison officials.
Furthermore, the injured inmates claimed they were targeted because they had protested against the alleged irregularities in the jail and staged an agitation.
Ayub Khan’s complaint led to the registration of an FIR against jail officials and certain inmates under several sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder) and 384 (extortion).
The then Jail Superintendent of Orai prison, Avinash Gautam, and deputy jailer G Mishra, who were among the accused in the case, obtained a stay on the trial proceedings against them from the Allahabad High Court.
Among those convicted are the former jailer Nathu Singh, along with constables Rammanorat, Ram Sharan, Rajkumar, Nipendra, Anil Sharma, and Shashikant Tewari. Additionally, inmates sentenced to life imprisonment were identified as Sudhar Singh, Satyabhan, Raja Bhaiyya, Raju Teetra, Ramnarayan, Akhilesh, and Munna Kewat.
The police filed a chargesheet in the case on January 27, 2011.
