Gangs in Central Jail create challenges for prison officials

Time of India

30-04-2025

Nagpur: The prison authorities, like the police department, are forced to be on their toes due to the rivalry among various gangs lodged in Nagpur Central Prison. Sources stated there are around 25 different gangs lodged in Nagpur Central Jail, including 18 from Nagpur. With raging rivalries between most of them, the prison authorities have a huge task at hand to keep them apart.
Following guidelines in the prison manual and various past court orders, the prison department deals with the task of keeping the rivals away. The Nagpur prison has witnessed several gang clashes within the barracks and also attacks on officials trying to intervene in their fights.
Sources said the prison department is mostly left on its own to find each gang's profile and gather information about their rivalries, as there is no existing system in the police department to provide them with such information.
Following the arrests of
Hiranwar gang
members, the prison department recently approached the court seeking permission to shift the goons elsewhere, as their arch-rival Sheikhu gang members are also lodged in the Nagpur Central Prison.
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With the court allowing them to take the measure, the prison authorities are now brainstorming among themselves to decide on shifting the Hiranwar gang members to other district jails. Three accused and a woman of the Hiranwar gang are currently lodged in Nagpur Jail.
Sources said the prison authorities have an uphill task every day to avoid a possible gang war or group clash in the jail. "On the basis of the information shared by the gang members, the officials decide how to keep the rivals separated in different barracks," said an official.
The official also stated that the prison department prepares a conduct report and sends it to their higher officials with a proposal to transfer convicts from one prison to another if there is a genuine threat to their lives. "In the case of the under-trials, the court is approached with an application seeking a nod for their transfer to other prisons for security and safety," said the official. The jail authorities are also compelled to guard against clashes at some common meeting points like the interview or mulaquat room, hospital OPD, videoconferencing room, and also sometimes during events or programmes.
Intra-gang rivalries too
The dreaded gangster Pravesh Gupta, who is part of the Sheikhu gang, is learnt to be facing a life threat from a minor of his own group. The minor, rounded up by the cops for his role in cafe owner Avinash Bhusari's murder, is learnt to have vowed to eliminate Gupta.
The Hiranwar gang's first target was Gupta, whom they wanted to bump off on April 14 during Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti rally. He escaped by a whisker. The Hiranwars later found Bhusari an easier target to bump off. Gupta is now the target of his own gang members. An insider said the minor, accused of Bhusari's murder, wanted to eliminate Gupta to avenge his humiliation of his father.
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