HYDERABAD, Dec 1 Superintendent central jail Abdul Majeed Siddiqui, his deputy Gul Mohammad Sheikh and some other officials have been placed under suspension by provincial home department on charges of corruption and maladministration.

Siddiqui and his deputy Gul Mohammad Sheikh were placed under suspension following an order issued from Sindh home department here on Monday. “Both of them have been suspended by the home department on complaints of corruption and maladministration. An inquiry officer will be appointed now”, said IG prisons Sindh Yamin Khan, who is currently in Sukkur.

It was learnt that a jailer and two jail sepoys have also been suspended on similar charges. No one has taken over charge as superintendent and deputy superintendent. The IG prisons Yamin Khan and DIG Sindh prisons, Nawaz Hussain, are busy regarding examination of candidates for various posts that are lying vacant in jail department.

The IG prisons said that there were complaints of provision of cell phones to under trial prisoners (UTPs), non-availability of quality food and other complaints of general nature. “Corruption and mal-administration are also part of complaints against them”, he said.

The jail inmates had resorted to violence on October 4 inside central jail Hyderabad to protest non-availability of quality food, non-production before courts, demands of illegal gratification by jail administration officials for sending them to courts and jail officials' refusal to allow their meeting.

The situation was brought under control then Sindh Fisheries Ministers Zahid Ali Bhurgari, Advocate-General (AG) Sindh Yusuf Leghari, MPA Farheen Mughal and others rushed to jail and held negotiations with a group of prisoners.

DIG police Hyderabad zone had also conducted an inquiry into the October 4 trouble and had submitted his recommendations.

Abdul Majeed Siddiqui from Malir jail had replaced Muzaffar Alam Siddiqui who was transferred to Malir.

He was on the verge of promotion in BPS-19 and is reported to have also filed a constitutional petition in this regard. It has not yet been decided. It would be relevant to mention here that Mr.Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Mr.Justice Zafar Ahmed Sherwani had visited several jails of the province and submitted their findings before Chief Justice Sindh High Court Mr.Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who had also confirmed to Dawn during his visit to Hyderabad on October 24 that complaints of corruption were received in jail by the two visiting judges. “Bribe is to be given even for an interview/meeting of prisoner with family members”, he had said.