Jaipur: Three convicted inmates of a govt juvenile correction home in Sriganganagar allegedly beat 63-year-old warden Sahab Ram to death because they resented his strict discipline and strenuous physical training regime, police said Thursday.Ram, an ex-serviceman, was attacked with a wooden plank inside the correction home on Wednesday. Police have registered a murder case against the three inmates, are examining CCTV footage and questioning them to establish the sequence of events.Sriganganagar SP Hari Shankar said all three accused are convicted juvenile inmates. “Two of them were convicted in separate murder cases, while the third was convicted under the NDPS Act. Since they were minors at the time the offences were committed, their identities cannot be revealed under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act,” he said.Shankar said the initial probe pointed to anger over Ram’s enforcement of discipline. “So far, investigations suggest that all three were unhappy with the warden over the discipline enforced at the institution, including rigorous physical routines, physical training and other activities. They have also maintained that he used to scold them frequently. They will be taken on remand and questioned further,” he said.Ram’s family, however, alleged he was killed because he was blocking narcotics from entering the correction home. They claimed he had been attacked earlier for resisting such activities and said his murder was linked to his efforts to curb an alleged drug network inside the institution.Police said the allegations are being verified and no such motive has been established so far.Ram’s body was shifted to a govt hospital mortuary for post-mortem, but family members and villagers refused to allow the autopsy and staged a sit-in outside the hospital. They demanded a fair and impartial probe, stringent action against those responsible, Rs 1 crore compensation and a govt job for one family member.
