An under-trial prisoner died while several prisoners and a few policemen were injured during clashes in Hyderabad’s Central Prison on Friday.
The condition of one of the under-trial prisoners was stated to be critical.
DIG Prisons Gulzar Channa said a large contingent of police personnel was deployed to control the situation which he described as mutinous.
“They had partly damaged one of the main entrances of our jail and we had to resort to aerial firing to deter them from entering the premises,” said Channa.
He said upon his last visit to the prison he had met most of the prisoners but did not get any complaints from them. However, he added that the prisoners had been demanding facilities such as mobile phones which could not be made available to them.
There were conflicting reports as to what exactly led to the trouble. The police staff claimed that several policemen had also been taken hostage by the prisoners. “Police was violent with the prisoners for the past couple of days which made the prisoners retaliate,” a police official claimed.
According to other police sources four prisoners and seven officers were wounded in the clash.
Most of the prisoners were outside their barracks protesting against the prison administration. The barracks and adjoining areas were also damaged due to the demonstrations and the ensuing violence.
