Kashimpur Central Jail: Govt sacks jail super, jailer

The home ministry sacked a senior jail superintendent and a jailer of Kashimpur Central Jail-1 for letting an inmate spend time with a woman inside a prison officer's room.

Superintendent Ratna Roy and jailer Nur Mohammad Mridha were sacked after leaked security camera footage showed a woman meeting inmate Tushar Ahmed, general manager of Hallmark Group, on January 6.

The Ministry of Home Affairs also asked the inspector general (IG) of prisons to take action against others involved.

Md Shahiduzzaman, secretary at the ministry's security services division, told The Daily Star yesterday that an order was sent to the department of prisons regarding the matter on Thursday.

The ministry can directly act against a jail superintendent and a jailer, but it is the inspector general (IG) of prisons, who has the authority to decide about the others, said the secretary.

Shahiduzzaman said the ministry asked to take action against the officials, but could not provide any numbers.

Md Main Uddin Bhuiyan, assistant IG of the prisons, told The Daily Star yesterday that he did not receive any order from the ministry by the time the work hour ended on Thursday.

He added that he would be able to give the specifics on Sunday.

On January 6, inmate Tushar, brother-in-law of Hallmark Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud, was allowed a visitor in violation of the coronavirus restrictions.

In the leaked footage, Tushar was seen walking around wearing black clothes in the area where jail officials' cabins are located. Soon afterwards, a woman in a purple dress was seen entering from outside and going to the said area around 12:55pm.

The footage also showed Tushar and the woman going to the room of an officer named Saqlain where they spent about 45 minutes.

Two committees were formed to investigate the incident.

According to officials, a 49-page investigation report submitted to the home ministry on Wednesday recommended 18 prison officers and guards be sacked or face departmental action.

The report mentioned 25 types of punitive measures that include transfer to district-level prisons and to less important positions, they said.

Sayed Belal Hossain, additional secretary (jail) of the home ministry, told The Daily Star that the ministry order asked the prisons department to take steps in line with the two-investigation committees' recommendations.

Meanwhile, the department of prisons formed another three-member committee on Thursday to investigate how footage from prison security cameras got leaked.

Sagir Mia, deputy IG of prisons in Khulna division, is the chief of the probe body. The other members are Gias Uddin, acting superintendent of Kashimpur High Security Jail, and Al Masum, superintendent of Faridpur District Jail.

Contacted, Sagir said, "We will visit Kashimpur jail on Sunday. We hope that we will be able to submit the investigation report soon."

[Our Gazipur Correspondent contributed to this report]