UP shifts jail inmate named by Pandit’s wife Geeta

“Anil Dujana was moved to Banda jail on Monday evening. He reached there on Tuesday. The process to shift him had been on in the court since the past five months. But after the Dadri shooting, the application to shift him was expedited. Once the court agreed to our appeal, the approval from the state government arrived on Monday evening,” Kaushal Raj Sharma, District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar, said.

According to Sharma, the administration had appealed to the court to have Dujana moved from Muzaffarnagar jail because his name kept cropping up in a number of criminal cases, including some firing incidents in Muzaffarnagar.

Sharma also said some members of Dujana’s rival gang were also lodged in the Muzaffarnagar jail and this had led to a threat on Dujana’s life. “He was being kept in solitary confinement and was being closely monitored. We even raided his cell thrice in the past one month – the last was around midnight three days ago. We found no evidence that could sufficiently prove his link to the crimes he has been accused of committing. We mentioned as much in our appeal to the court that he be moved to another jail,” Sharma said.

According to police, the three assailants who gunned Pandit down have been identified and the arrests were likely soon. “There are three prominent gangs in Gautam Buddh Nagar district. One of them is Dujana’s. It is possible that the shooters are associated with one or more of these gangs. They have been identified. The arrests should happen soon,” a police officer said.