SARGODHA, Sept 3: Calm prevailed in the District Jail here on Friday after Thursday evening's riots following the death of an under-trial prisoner due to alleged torture by jail staff.

Sources said the angry prisoners released three jail officials held hostage by them at 2.30am and returned to their barracks after assurances by a negotiating team that no punitive action would be taken against them.

DPO Muhammad Naeem Khan and two deputy superintendents, Muhammad Akbar Meikan from Faisalabad and Sheikh Azhar Hayat from Shahpur, who remained posted here some time ago, were also among the negotiating team which pacified the protesters.

Punjab Minister for Prisons Saeed Akbar Niwani visited the jail along with District Nazim Amjad Ali Noon and the DPO and met some of the prisoners and assured them that no action would be taken against them for last night's rioting.

In a press statement, the minister narrated the version of the jail authorities about last night's episode. He, however, promised action against guilty jail officials.

Jail authorities who turned down a local journalists' request for a visit to the jail said the minister's statement was enough for the national media. According to sources, a preliminary judicial enquiry conducted on Friday by judicial magistrate Hafiz Muhammad Tariq revealed that during routine visit the jail superintendent had recovered from Afzal Masih a string and from Ashraf Ali some cash.

The superintendent summoned the two for interrogation how they got the string and cash. "When some preliminary investigation was being carried out by an assistant superintendent, Ashraf Ali complained of pain in the chest and fainted. He was taken to the jail hospital where he was given emergency treatment but he died."

Afzal Masih, it is learnt, is supporting the story of the jail authorities. He reportedly told the judicial magistrate that Ashraf was a heart patient. A DHQ hospital doctor who claimed anonymity said that apparently there was no mark of violence on the body.

He said heart, lungs and other internal parts of body had been sent for chemical analysis and after receiving the laboratory report final opinion regarding the cause of the death would be formed.

Jail authorities claimed that no inmate was injured and that normalcy had been restored.Sources said that a notorious gang of highway robbers from Mandi Bahauddin had led the rioters.

Another source, however, said that two jail officials notorious for leg pulling and corruption had also played a dirty role. DIG prisons Abdul Sattar Ajiz and other officials are reportedly holding an inquiry to ascertain the cause of rioting in the jail.

SUSPENSION: Minister Rasheed Akbar Niwani has suspended an assistant superintendent and his subordinates whose negligence allowed Afzal Masih and Ashraf bring a string and cash into the jail.