Pic: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Nov 3: Till not long ago, people with criminal background, who faced threats for their lives from rivals, used to move out of their secret hideouts and get holed up inside jails on some pretext or the other. Because, jails used to be off limits for gangs of criminals and anti-social elements. The ghastly murder of two criminal elements inside the city jail has proved the point once again that murderers can also sneak into jails and execute their plans.
As per preliminary information, gang rivalry was behind the murders of Madoor Isubu and Ganesh Shetty.
The jail here had witnessed gang war, communal clashes, and drug trafficking during the recent years. Fight between criminals owing allegiance to gangs that are at loggerheads, communal rivalry etc have been occurring. On December 4, 2013, fight had broken out between supporters of underground elements, Rashid Malbari and Madoor Isubu. As the members fought with broken carom board, one of the inmates of the jail, Illyas, had suffered serious injury to his head during this fight.
Although the jail here had often housed notorious criminals involved with Mumbai gang wars in the past, fights inside jail used to be out of question. With new entrants into the criminal fray, fights started to happen. Cronies of underworld fugitives like Bannaje Raja, Ravi Poojary, Chota Rajan, Vicky Shetty, Madoor Isubu etc extended their rivalry over oneupmanship into the jail premises.
The issue began to get complicated after lethal weapons and drugs began to sneak into the jail here. During surprise inspections in the recent past, officials had found drugs and some other items inside the jail. During the double murder on Monday, knives and swords were reportedly used. While some say that these things get into the jail with the food packets containing lunch for under-trials, there are also claims that things get tossed into the jail from the neighbouring compounds.
Unlike in the past, criminals continue with their activities even after entering the jail here. There is no doubt that they get instructions from outside, they are able to communicate with the outside world, and get drugs, weapons etc from outside. Since some days, there had been rumours about fight between under-trials inside the local jail, but the policemen, when confronted, had repeatedly denied them. There is a need to find out how can things get into the jail without the connivance of the staff manning the jail. Unless the concerned put their feet down and put a stop to such activities by taking prompt action against erring persons, such things might become a routine here, thus further sullying the reputation of the city that has already been tarnished because of various incidents.