Rawalpindi-A plot to make the superintendent or judges hostage by some inmates of Adiala Jail was thwarted when a prisoner wrote a letter to the authorities leaking the plan, official sources on Monday said.

Taking action, the jail authorities shifted as many as 24 inmates from the jail to Mianwali and Faisalabad prisons, they said. The move was made following instructions of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Prisons Punjab, they added.

According to sources, two inmates namely Zaheer Uddin Babar and Mirza Daud, sons of Sabir, who were completing jail term for their involvement in a murder case taken place in Jhuelum, along with 22 other prisoners, had allegedly made a plan to make the superintendent jail or judges visiting the jail hostage to pressurise the authorities to fulfil their illegal demands. They said that the gang of prisoners was also not happy with the jail authorities which had recovered mobile phones, narcotics and steel cutters from their possession during a search in the barracks.

However, one of the plotters leaked the news to jail authorities which sprung into action immediately. Superintendent Jail Saqib Nazir Chaudhry wrote a letter to IGP Prisons about the alleged trouble makers. The IG ordered shifting of the gang of inmates immediately, the sources said. They also claimed that it was the same gang involved recently in leaking a video to media showing inmates while gambling and receiving bribe by prison department officials from prisoners.

Sources said that the video was recorded in December 2018 by an inmate Allah Ditta who had been released from jail on January 23, 2019.

Sources said that the inmates acting in the video could be seen wearing coats, jackets and jerseys in winter season. They said that the incidents of gambling and other violations took place in presence of former jailer Mansoor Akbar. They said that the newly-appointed Superintendent Saqib Nazir Chaudhry assumed his charge on March 20, 2019.

The prisoners, who have been shifted from Adiala Jail to Mianwali and Faisalabad prisons, were identified as Zeeshan, Mubeen Mushtaq, Lal Akbar, Faisal Baig, Adeel, Naheed Ahmed, Husnain Javed, Daud Baig, Asif Khan, Mubashir Khan, Usman Ghani, Zafar Iqbal, Manzar Abbas, Zafar Ullah, Aqdas Hussain, Khizar Hayyat, Shajar Abbas, Sharif, Nadim Baig, Nasar Jabbir, Zaheer Ahmed, Zaheer Uddin Babar, Akram, Rafaqat and Tanzeel.