New DelhiTaking serious note of the escape of a jailed Pakistani militant, the Government of India on Friday asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to fully review security measures in place in jails and transportation of inmates. The Union Home Ministry also asked the state government to ensure that no such incident takes place in future and deploy CRPF in prison security.
The home ministry has taken serious note of the issue and has advised the state government to fully review security measures and take action to prevent such incidents in future, a senior home ministry official told PTI. The move came following a high-level meeting which was convened after the escape of Pakistani militant Naveed Jatt, who was lodged in Srinagar central jail.
He fled from a hospital in the city after some militants shot and killed two policemen accompanying him. Jatt was taken to the hospital for medical checkup. The home ministry has asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to fix responsibility for lapses and also to examine why a high-security prisoner was sent to the OPD of a hospital.
The official said the state government has also issued instructions to immediately review the security of hardened militants who are lodged in Srinagar central jail and they are expected to be moved out to Jammu, Uddhampur, Leh jails and kept in isolation. There were 16 Pakistani prisoners still in Srinagar jail, of whom seven are being shifted to Jammu and discussions are on where to shift the others.
The state government has been asked to involve CRPF in all aspects of central jail security not only perimeter security but also inside the prison. Another official said that the Jammu and Kashmir government has assured the central government of taking necessary steps and reviewing the entire jail security.
Consequently, the state government has transferred Director General of Prisons S K Mishra and appointed Dilbag Singh in his place. The Srinagar jail superintendent has been suspended and a high-level inquiry by the divisional commissioner ordered, the official said. (PTI)
‘Bike’s Number Plate Unfolded Entire Case’
It was fleeting frame of the number plate of a Pulsar motorcycle caught by a CCTV camera outside the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital in Srinagar that helped police crack the case involing dramatic escape of LeT’s Naveed Jatt, the Indian Express reported.
Quoting Additional Director General of Police Muneer Khan, the newspaper said that once the bikes owner was identified, the entire story unfolded before us.
The motorcycle belonged to one Shakeel of Lelhar village in Pulwama. We scanned CCTV footage and found three suspicious people standing (outside the hospital). Soon, two of them were identified as Tikka Khan and Shakeel, Khan said.
A check of their call details, he said, revealed that both were active militants. They had been OGW (Over Ground Workers) for some time and then both had joined Lashkar. There are 14 cases against Shakeel while Tikka has at least two cases against him (but) they were not on our effective radar. We found they were in constant touch with one Hilal who too had joined Lashkar. Shakeel, Tikka and Hilal, Khan said, had come to the hospital.
Sources said Tikka had also been working for security agencies as an informer which has muddied the waters surrounding Jats escape.
CCTV footage showed the sequence of events that led to the shooting and escape. We found that Hilal had brought two pistols and he gave one to Naveed before opening fire at the policemen. Naveeds one hand was cuffed and Babar (the police constable) was holding it. Naveed opened fire at him once he got the pistol from Hilal. This is how he (Babar) was hit, Khan said.
While fleeing the hospital, Shakeel drove the Pulsar motorcycle. Naveed and Hilal were his pillion riders. Tikka boarded a Maruti car. Once they all crossed the Abdullah bridge and moved towards Rajbagh extension (about 5 km from the hospital), they stopped. They asked Tikka to come to a hideout in Padshahi Bagh in the evening to pick them up.