Shillong, June 17 : A departmental inquiry into the recent jailbreak here has revealed a passive approach on the part of the then additional director-general of police (inspector-general of prisons) Anil Pradhan and the superintendent of Shillong jail, Paize Warjri, for overall laxity in the jail administration.
The report, recently submitted to the minister in charge of home (jails), Paul Lyngdoh, a copy of which is available with The Telegraph, revealed that according to the jail manual, the inspector-general of prisons is to inspect the jail once a year and submit a detailed report regarding the jail administration. However, the last inspection of Shillong jail was done only in February last year when Kulbir Krishan was in charge.
Moreover, “the inspector general is required to submit to the government by April 15 every year a detailed report on the jail administration, which was not submitted in 2008 and 2009”, the report said. It was in March 2008 that Krishan had handed over charge of prisons to Pradhan.
Though the report does not mention the name of Pradhan directly, it refers to the lapses during his tenure. The report indicates that after Pradhan took over, no proper inspection was carried out, nor any detailed report on the jail administration submitted in April 2008 and 2009, which is mandatory.
Pradhan continued to be the inspector-general of prisons till May 18 this year before being appointed the new director-general of police of Meghalaya, replacing Krishan.
The inquiry report said gadgets like door-frame metal detector and CCTV were not functional for a long time. The alarm did not go off when the jailbreak occurred. It also said that telephone line of the Shillong jail was disconnected because of non-payment of dues since January this year.
“The superintendent of Shillong jail, Paize Warjri, had taken a half day casual leave on May 29 and did not visit the jail on May 30. He only arrived after the jailbreak on May 31,” the report pointed out.
Warji was, in fact, indicted by the CBI in 2002 for allegedly substituting a prisoner, Rusith Sangma, with Doyalian Kaipang, an accused in the murder case, who went missing from Shillong jail. Both Warjri and the jailer, Denis Warkhyllew, were suspended recently.
