M A I N   N E W S

Gupta to head probe panel on jailbreak
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 25
The Chandigarh Administration today set up a three-member committee headed by the Delhi Police Commissioner R.S. Gupta to inquire into lapses that led to the escape of alleged assassins of Beant Singh on January 22 from the Burail jail.

The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Commissioner, Mr M. P. Singh, a Punjab cadre IAS officer on deputation with the Union Territory, and the SSP of Chandigarh , Mr Gaurav Yadav, are the other members of the committee.

Mr Yadav is a Punjab cadre IPS officer. The committee has been asked to complete the inquiry within two months. The terms of the reference of the committee entrust it the task The committee has also been asked to suggest measures, including amendments, in the relevant manuals and standing orders to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

The terms of reference, however, do not specifically take care of the concerns as to how signals of jail break attempts were ignored by the Chandigarh Administration.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr Gupta, who has been the Inspector- General of Police of the Union Territory when the former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was assassinated on August 31, 1995, will start the work after his retirement on January 31 as Delhi Police Commissioner. Mr Gupta has been the IG (Prisons) of the Delhi Police.

Meanwhile, the wife of the arrested Jail Superintendent of Burail jail D. S. Rana today refused legal help extended by certain lawyers and politicians to save her husband but has asked the police to provide her family security fearing threat from the escaped terrorists.

In letter to the Inspector -General of Police Rajesh Kumar and SSP Gaurav Yadav, Mrs Surekha Rana said: “On January 24, I was contacted by certain advocates whom I will not name.”