Two arrested in firing incident inside Mathura jail

Mathura, Jan 19: Two persons, including a guard of Mathura jail, have been arrested in a firing incident, believed to be a fallout of gang war, that took place inside the jail premises two days ago.

Two undertrials were killed and one was injured in the incident inside Mathura jail. While undertrial Akshay Solanki, of Brajesh Mavi gang, was shot dead, criminal Rajesh Tota and Rajkumar Sharma had suffered bullet injuries. Later, Tota was shot dead by gunmen when he was being shifted to a hospital in Agra for treatment from Mathura jail on Saturday night.

The police have arrested jail guard Kailash Gupta and Gopal Yadav of Brajesh Mavi gang in this connection. A contract of 15 lakh was given to one Deepak Verma for eliminating hardened criminal Rajesh Tota by Rakesh Chaudhary and Gopal Yadav of Brajesh Mavi gang, IG Zone Sunil Kumar Gupta said.

For this purpose, Kailash Gupta had carried Rs 1,10,000, a revolver, a pistol, and 16 live cartridges inside the jail on January 13, given to him by Gopal Yadav and Rakesh Chaudhary, he said, adding, he was told to keep Rs 20,000 with him and pay rest of the amount and ammunition to Verma.

According to Tota's statement taken after he was injured, he and Sharma were sitting in the jail when the rival group, also undertrials in the jail, suddenly opened fire on them. The firing was the result of a gang war between the supporters of Brajesh Mavi, who was a gang leader, and Tota. However, since Verma was not successful in murdering Tota, Gopal Yadav, along with sharp shooter Nadim, Ram Kumar and four others shot him dead when he was being shifted to S N Medical College in Agra for treatment, Kumar said.

The assailants stopped the ambulance on Agra-Mathura Highway and pleaded that they be allowed to see Tota as they were his family members, he said, adding, they then opened fire on Tota, leaving him dead on the spot. According to Yadav, he killed Tota to take revenge of the murder of gang-leader Brajesh Mavi. Constable Santosh Kumar has been dismissed from service since he did not use sophisticated weapon when the shooters were killing Tota, Kumar said.

PTI