Yerawada lets its guard down

90 vacant posts for guards and 80 of them on sick leave means it is an open invitation for jailbreaks at central prison

Yerawada lets its guard down

90 vacant posts for guards and 80 of them on sick leave means it is an open invitation for jailbreaks at central prison

An investigation into the security at Yerawada Prison has revealed that almost 90 posts of jail guards are lying vacant and at least 80 guards are on sick leave. Insiders reveal that only four guards are armed with Musket Rifles bought in 1950 and ammunition made in 1972.

About 225 to 240 guards are expected to keep watch on 3,700 inmates, including 26 who have been given death sentence, 20 notorious gangsters and five ISI agents. Not surprising then that breaking jail on Sunday was a cinch for Salim Gulab Pathan, immured for life at the Yerawada's Open Jail.

Skewed ratio
As most posts for guards are yet to be filled, only two guards are responsible for about 700 inmates. Guards from Yerawada said on condition of anonymity that while one guard is on patrol duty, the other would be resting. If any inmate is ill, the guard on patrolling duty has to report to the hospital staff, thus leaving his station unattended. Sources said that a guard is yet to be appointed at Point No 3 from where another inmate Balasaheb Pawar escaped after scaling three walls in August last year.

The Other Side
Special IG (Prisons) Sanjay Kumar Varma said: "The security has been beefed inside the Yerawada Jail. Night patrolling, internal vigilance has been increased." Asked about the high post lamps promised by former State Minister for Home Ramesh Bagwe, Varma said, "The work to erect electric poles is in the progress."Inspector General (Prison) and acting Additonal Director General Surinderkumar said: "Shortage of staff has nothing to do with the runaway (Pathan) case. It is true that all prisons in Maharashtra are short-staffed. But in a month there will be recruitment."

Past escapees
> In August last year, Balasaheb Pawar, then a murder convict, made a daring attempt to run away from the Yerawada Jail. The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court later acquitted him of murder charges. Pawar had scaled three high walls with the help of s special chain he had made in jail.
> Robert Alias Ravi Salvi ran away on October 23, last year. Salvi was sentenced to imprisonment in 2008 and was to be freed in eight months. But the urge to spend time with his son on his birthday compelled him to make a dash for it. He gave the slip to the guards on duty while carrying out farming chores on the premises of the Open Jail. He was nabbed by the jail police within 24 hours from his in-laws residence in Tingare Nagar.