Bengaluru: Around 30 convicts were shifted to other district prisons on Saturday night for allegedly complained to Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Prisons) D. Roopa about irregularities at the Bengaluru central prison at Parappana Agrahara here.
The shifting prisoners took place much before retired bureaucrat Vinay Kumar, appointed to probe the alleged irregularities in the prison, visit the prison. Kumar’s visit to Parappana Agarahara Prison is scheduled for Monday.
Though prison officials in Bengaluru sought to play down the transfer, terming it routine, one of the district jail officials said more than 30 convicts were shifted to various prisons for holding a protest for their non-release despite completing 14 years in jail.
On Saturday, over 700 inmates had gathered at the prison ground as soon as Roopa visited the jail for inspection and insisted on meeting her. The inmates poured out their woes to Roopa, accusing the central prison staff of harassment and torture if their demands for bribes were not met.
Soon, it snowballed into a snap protest when Chief Superintendent Krishna Kumar, along with a group of convicts as wardens, reached the spot and began to argue with them. Sensing trouble, Roopa left the place, which led the inmates to stage a snap protest. They refused to go back to their barracks. One of the inmates was allegedly beaten up for leading the protest. The jurisdictional police, along with additional forces, had to rush to the prison to contain the situation.
Taking a serious note of this, Kumar shifted the inmates to other jails, charging them with violation of provisions in the prison manual, sources said.
According to sources, senior officials inspected the jail on Sunday.
