Centre seeks report from Chhattisgarh govt on jailbreak

New Delhi, Dec 17 (UNI) The centre has sought details of the jailbreak incident, in which 293 prisoners escaped in the naxalite affected Dantewara district of Chhattisgarh and asked the state government to pay special attention to the security of jails.

Concerned over the jailbreak, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta spoke to the state Director General of Police by phone after the incident.

The State government has been asked to pay special attention to the security of jails, a home ministry spokesman said here today.

The Home Ministry regularly advises the state governments general to beef up security and surveillance in and around prisons.

This issue had also been discussed at length in various meetings of the Task Force on Naxalism. These directives were specially emphasised following jailbreak in Jehananbad in Bihar.

Meanwhile, describing it as a ''failure of internal security'' and not a naxalite incident, the state government suspended Deputy Inspector General (Jails) P D Verma and six other jail staff. It has also ordered investigation into the incident Chief Minister Raman Singh said his government was taking appropriate steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.

Combing operations had been launched to apprehend the escaped prisoners from the jungle areas. The state government also demanded more central para-military forces to tackle the problem of naxalism.

UNI