Video of Uttar Pradesh jail inmates flashing pistol goes viral; facing criticism, govt says pistol made of 'clay'

Lucknow: After a video of two inmates flashing a country-made pistol at the Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao jail went viral on social media, the Samajwadi Party Thursday termed the incident an “open challenge” to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The party alleged the jails in the state were in the “pocket” of criminals. “Uttar Pradesh ki jail me kuch bhi ho sakta hai. Unnao jail se mukhyamatri ko khula challenge. Rae Bareli jail me lag rahi kaidi ki adalat. Apradhiyon ki jeb me mukhyamantri ki jail! (Anything can happen in UP jails. It’s an open challenge to the CM from the Unnao jail. In the Rae Bareli jail, criminals are holding a court. The CM’s jail is in the pocket of criminals),” the party said in a tweet. [caption id=“attachment_6894071” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Videos of inmates in Uttar Pradesh jails have gone viral in which they are seen flashing weapons. News18[/caption] Commenting on the issue, party spokesman Sharvendra Bikram Singh said criminal ruled the roost in the jail. In the video that went viral on social media, two inmates were seen flashing a country-made pistol, prompting the state government to initiate action against four officials of the Unnao district jail. The UP Home Department, however, Wednesday came up with a bizarre clarification, saying the pistol was made of “clay” and looked real as one of the two inmates was a “good painter”. The video of the inmates — Amrish and Gaurav Pratap Singh, alias Ankur — was circulated on social media on June 23 and the state government had termed the entire sequence of events serious. Additional Director General (Prisons) Anand Kumar had said, “In the probe, it was found that the incident took place in collusion with some jail officials to put pressure on the jail administration.” “Head Jail Warders Mata Prasad and Hemraj and Jail Warders Awadhesh Sahu and Saleem Khan have been found colluding with the inmates. Action is being initiated against them as per rules,” he had said, adding that the video dated back to February. “Inmate Amrish was brought to the Unnao jail from Meerut, while Gaurav was transferred from Lucknow,” he said. In a statement, the Home Department said, “During the probe, it was found that Gaurav is a very good painter and the pistol shown in the video is made of clay.” “Apart from this, all the food items, which are seen in the video, are regular items, which are given to the inmates. None of the items were brought from outside or are objectionable,” it added. The statement also said that Amrish, a resident of Meerut, was serving life term in a case of loot and murder while Gaurav, who hails from Rae Bareli, was named in similar cases.