Goindwal jail gang war: Punjab govt suspends 7 jail officials, arrests five of them

Chandigarh (Punjab)[India], March 6 : The Punjab Government on Sunday suspended seven jail officials and arrested five of them for negligence on duty over a gang fight in which two gangsters were killed inside Goindwal jail on Feb 26.
The gangsters who were killed were facing charges in the Sidhu Moosewala murder case among other cases.
While addressing a press conference, Sukhchain Singh Gill, IGP of Punjab Police said "Two groups of gangsters fought with each other in Goindwal jail on Feb 26 in which two gangsters died while one was injured. The Punjab govt took stringent action, and seven jail officials were suspended."
"FIR against gangsters and jail officials was registered. 5 jail officials have been arrested. A video has gone viral today of a gang war on 26 Feb in Goindwal jail. FIR against gangsters, who made this video viral, and jail officials were registered," he added.
IGP Punjab Police stated that these jail inmates are members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang.
"Our guess is that there was a scuffle-over difference on some matter between these two gangs which started the brawl. Inmates have been shifted to different jails now" he said.
He pointed out that stringent action was taken against jail officials as they failed to do their duty.
"It was a clear case of negligence and dereliction of duty. How can mobile phones go inside?" IGP Gill said.
A video had gone viral on social media where a gangster was calling himself Sachin Bhiwani, from Lawrence Bishnoi gang and he claimed that he killed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria gang members Mandeep Singh Toofan and Manmohan. Another video surfaced where jail inmates were seen celebrating the killings of the two jail members.
In this regard, Punjab Police has registered a case under multiple sections.
"A fresh case has been registered under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, Section 52 of the Prisons Act, Sections 506 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Police Station Goindwal Sahib" he said.
IGP Punjab Police further informed that Jail Superintendent Iqbal Singh Brar, Additional Jail Superintendent Vijay Kumar, Assistant Jail Superintendent Harish Kumar, Assistant Sub Inspector Joginder Singh, and ASI Harchand Singh are the five arrested officials and other two suspended jail officials are Additional Jail Superintendent Jaspal Singh Khaira and Head Constable Savinder Singh.