The superintendent of the district jail here was taken hostage while his deputy seriously injured as its inmates today clashed with staff and took control of a section of the prison barracks.
Jail Superintendent Ashish Tiwari was taken hostage by the inmates, who were unhappy over several issues, including the "poor quality" of food served at the prison, at around 9:30 am, they said.
However, Tiwari was freed after seven hours in captivity at around 4:30 pm following talks with the inmates.
The inmates went on the rampage this morning after two of their prison mates were allegedly beaten up by guards at Varanasi district jail at Chowkaghat in the Cantonment police station area here, police sources said.
The prisoners took control of a portion of the jail barracks andlocked it from inside, they said.
As the inmates clashed with jail officials, Deputy Jail Superintendent Ajay Rai received serious injuries while several prison guards, too, were assaulted, they said.
A large police team was deployed in and around the prison.
DM Raj Mani Yadav and senior prison department officials went to the jail to deal with the situation, the sources said, adding that an NDRF team was dispatched to the prison.
Also, the District Magistrate calledsome of the local Samajwadi party leadersto mediateand free the jail official.
Additional District Magistrate (City) Vindhyavasini Rai said the Jail SuperintendentAshish Tiwari who was taken hostage by the jail inmates was freed after holding talks with the inmates.
Both the Jail Superintendentand Deputy Jail Superintendent were replaced with immediate effect following a demand by jail inmates.
A magisterial inquiry has been ordered by the District Magistrate to probeinto this entire incident.
