3 months on, no headway in Ambala central jail firing case

Incident took place on January 18, when the woman, Reeta, an undertrial from Mullana was brought to the emergency ward of district civil hospital in the city after she complained of bleeding in her leg

It’s been three months since a 35-year-old woman inmate suffered a bullet injury inside the Ambala central jail but police are still groping in the dark about the weapon used and place from where it was fired.

Prima facie, police suspected that the bullet was fired from a self-loading rifle (SLR) but failed to establish if it was an accidental fire from inside or if someone had fired the bullet from outside the jail. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The incident took place on January 18, when the woman, Reeta, an undertrial from Mullana was brought to the emergency ward of district civil hospital in the city after she complained of bleeding in her leg.

It was found that the bleeding was due to a bullet wound that had fractured her lower leg. After the discovery, several police teams rushed to the prison to find the source.

Days later, home minister Anil Vij, director general of prisons Muhammad Akil and ballistic experts from Madhuban inspected the jail separately to recreate the crime scene.

Prima facie, police suspected that the bullet was fired from a self-loading rifle (SLR) but failed to establish if it was an accidental fire from inside or if someone had fired the bullet from outside the jail.

Jail authorities, including superintendent Sanjeev Pattar, had denied any firing from inside the premises and claimed it was fired from outside.

An SIT under DSP (headquarters) Ramesh Kumar was constituted by SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa to probe the matter. The SIT takes a follow-up on the case every week under the supervision of the SP.

On Wednesday, the SIT and scene-of-crime team, along with Ambala Range IG Sibash Kabiraj, visited the jail accompanied by the SP and the injured woman.

The IG asked for a map of the surrounding area of around 1.5-2 km, and also directed the scene-of-crime team to submit a report within two days, a statement from the IG office said.

SP said a few weapons used by the jail staff and the bullet recovered, have already been sent for forensic examination, a report of which is still awaited.

“To expedite the probe in this sensitive and sensational case, I’ve written to the director of the forensic science lab. We are probing all possible sources, if it was an accidental fire from inside, fired from outside or from an illegal weapon inside the jail. An SLR carries an effective range of nearly 900 metres and can travel several times more than this, while an assault rifle has a range of 300 metres and can travel more than this. The FSL report will clear the source of the weapon,” he added.