HYDERABAD: An under-trial prisoner, aged 30, died and several prisoners and some policemen were injured during clashes in Hyderabad’s Central Prison on Friday.

Moreover, the condition of one of the under-trial prisoners was stated to be critical and he had been shifted to Civil Hospital Hyderabad.

DIG Prisons Gulzar Channa said that a large contingent of police personnel had to be deployed to control the situation which he described as mutinous.

“They had partly damaged one of the main entrances of our jail and we had to resort to aerial firing to deter them from entering the premises,” said Channa.

He further added that upon his last visit to the prison he had met most of the prisoners but did not get any complaints from them.

However, he mentioned that the prisoners have been demanding facilities such as mobile phones which could not be made available to them.

There were conflicting reports as to what exactly led to the trouble this morning. The police staff claimed that several policemen had also been taken hostage by the prisoners.

“Police was violent with the prisoners for the past couple of days which made the prisoners retaliate,” a police official claimed.

According to other police sources four prisoners and seven officers were wounded in the clash.

Most of the prisoners were outside their barracks protesting against the prison administration. The barracks and adjoining areas were also damaged due to the demonstrations and the ensuing violence.

Dawn.com was unable to contact IG Prisons Sindh, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, despite several attempts.

On March 15, 2011, seven prisoners had been killed in the same prison while over 20 had sustained injuries in a clash that broke out between police and prisoners. A judicial probe was also ordered on the directives of the Sindh High Court Chief Justice.