Three prisoners, including a member of BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s gang, were shot dead inside the Chitrakoot district jail on Friday after which the Uttar Pradesh government suspended two jail officials, police said. The three inmates gunned down in the district jail at Ragauli were identified by police as Anshu Dixit, Merazuddin alias Meraj Ali and Mukeem Kala, belonging to Sitapur, Ghazipur and Shamli, respectively, in Uttar Pradesh.

“Dixit shot dead Ali and Kala, and held some other prisoners at gunpoint and threatened to kill them. He was later killed in an exchange of fire with police,” Chitrakoot Range Inspector General of Police K Satyanarain said.

Asked about how a firearm reached Dixit inside the jail, the IG said, “A judicial probe of the incident has been ordered. Only after the probe, it can be concluded how the weapon reached inside the jail.”

Jail Superintendent S P Tripathi, however, had earlier said Dixit had snatched the service revolver of a jail staff when the official had intervened in an argument among the inmates. IG Satyanarain said all three inmates were hardcore criminals and had several criminal cases pending against them.

Taking note of the incident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe into the incident by a joint team of Divisional Commissioner D K Singh, IG Satyanarain and DIG (Prison) Sanjeev Tripathi. After the initial probe report, the state government suspended two jail officials — Jail Superintendent S P Tripathi and Jailor Mahendra Pal.