Former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda beaten by jail security staff

RANCHI: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda was beaten up by security men of Birsa Munda central jail here on Monday after a scuffle with prison staff. The VIP inmates including Koda and his former cabinet colleagues were agitating for the last couple of days allegedly over poor quality of food.

Along with Koda, his close associate Binod Sinha was also beaten up by security men.

Sources said that two other former ministers Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai, who are also lodged in the jail along with Koda, also suffered minor injuries in the scuffle.

Koda was immediately rushed to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences ( RIMS) and was said to have suffered fracture in his right hand. He was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.

In the hospital Koda alleged that it was an attack on his life and judicial inquiry should be conducted. "We were protesting peacefully when jail security personnel attacked us deliberately by lathis," said Koda before being shifted to RIMS.

Jail superintendent Dilip Kumar Pradhan said that Koda and his associates were protesting when they got agitated and misbehaved with security staff after which mild force was used to pacify them keeping in view of the jail's security concerns.

Madhu Koda is currently an MP and represents Chaibasa constituency. He is lodged in jail for money laundering and for acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Deputy chief minister Hemant Soren condemned the incident and said that if the protest was peacefull then there was no need of using force of whatever intensity. "Government will look into the matter," said Soren.