Jailed ex-MLA spent 250 days in a year outside

‘‘Some influential criminals lodged in jails are roaming around with escorts. We have ordered an inquiry. Strong action will be taken against those found guilty,’’ Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon had said yesterday.

The outgoing SP, however, told The Indian Express that he himself got the matter probed after he had joined about a month ago. ‘‘I myself was shocked when I found that Rama Singh had gone out around 150 times in a year on the pretext of sickness and production in courts,’’ he said.

According to sources, preliminary inquiries have revealed that Singh was taken to a Hazaribagh court recently. The trip should have taken two days, but he was back in the prison in three days. It was revealed that on his return journey, he had attended a party meeting in Patna and also met his supporters.

According to rules, it is the responsibility of the escort team to ensure that a prisoner does not go anywhere apart from attending the court. ‘‘The members of the escort team failed to give a satisfactory reply and were suspended,’’ the SP said.

Apart from the court cases, half his trips were to Patna’s Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences.

Officials are now planning to grill the jail’s medical board, which granted him permission to go out of the jail for treatment so frequently. Newly-appointed zonal IG Suneet Kumar today visited Hajipur to probe the case. Although he refused to talk to the media, sources said he had taken jail records with him.

The jail officials said after the prisoner was out of the jail, it was the responsibility of the district police to ensure his timely return.

Beur Jail jammers

PATNA: A global tenders for installing jammers in the high-security Beur Jail in Bihar will soon be issued, as existing Indian devices are ‘‘not up to the mark’’. ‘‘We have decided to issue global tenders for installation of jammers exclusively for the Beur Model Jail,’’ Chief Secretary K S Kang told the Patna High Court on Friday. —PTI