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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
Sanjeev Verma | TNN

Feb 26 clash in Punjab's Goindwal Sahib prison: Jail superintendent among 5 officials arrested

CHANDIGARH: After the Goindwal Sahib jail incident video went viral on Sunday in which two gangsters were murdered in a clash between members of two rival gangs on February 26, the Punjab police have arrested jail superintendent Iqbal Singh Brar and four other prison officials out of the total seven officials put under suspension.

The police have registered an FIR for unlawful assembly for an offence committed in prosecution of common object, criminal intimidation and under section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, against the gangsters who shot the video and made it viral and also nominated the seven jail officials in the FIR for their "negligence and connivance".

The Tarn Tarn police had already registered an FIR earlier for murder after this incident.

Those who have been put under suspension include Brar, additional jail superintendents Vijay Kumar and Jaspal Singh Khaira, assistant jail superintendent Harish Kumar, two ASIs Joginder Singh and Harchand Singh and head constable Sawinder Singh. Besides jail superintendent Brar, those who have been arrested till now include Vijay, Harish, Joginder and Harchand.

The viral video has been shot by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang - Sachin Bhiwani and Ankit Sirsa - in which they could be seen celebrating the murder of Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang members Mandeep Singh alias Toofan and Manmohan Singh alias Mohna inside jail with other inmates. These two murdered gangsters were allegedly involved in the murder of singer Sidhu Mossewala. In this incident another prisoner Keshav had sustained injuries and was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar.

Arrested jail official Harish was in-charge of the zone inside the jail where clash between the two gang members took place and the gangsters shot the video on mobile and the two arrested ASIs Joginder and Harchand could be seen in the viral video but they did not take any action, informed Punjab police headquarter IG Sukhchain Singh Gill on Sunday evening.

Gill said that there was a big negligence from the jail officials as to how the mobile entered inside the jail and how it was used despite there being three high security zones. He added that when the gangsters locked in zone 1 and 2 were released in the open area on February 26, the gangsters of zone 1 had attacked zone 2 inmates. The IG said that after this incident, all these jailed gangsters have been segregated in different jails and regular surprise checkings are being carried out in jails, even by the district police to keep a close watch on jail inmates.

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