Jail security across Chhattisgarh increased

Raipur, Dec 17 - A day after Maoists managed to break free from a jail in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada, jail security across the state was tightened Monday.Raipur and Bilaspur central jails housing several dreaded Maoist militants have also been put on high alert. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh held an emergency meeting late Sunday night here and asked top police officials to plug jail security loopholes in the state and announced a magisterial inquiry into the incident.He also suspended five jail officials, including Dantewada jailer KL Mankar, with immediate effect Director General (Jails) Sant Kumar Paswan, who termed the incident 'shocking and surprising', left here for Dantewada Sunday night.

The state government has sought help from neighbouring states like Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to apprehend the escaped Maoists.'The Government has launched an operation at war footing to track down the Maoists who escaped from the jail,' Paswan told IANS. Officials said that just two guards were on duty around 5 p.m. when a group of jailed Maoists led by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) commander Sujeet Kumar executed the jailbreak.The entire drama was over in just 10 minutes.

The reinforcement took 35 minutes to arrive, but by the time all the Maoists had fled.State Home Minister Ramvichar Netam left here Monday morning for Dantewada with the state's director general of police to boost the morale of thousands of police and para-military troopers deployed in the district for counter-insurgency operation.

Indo-Asian News Service