Quake kills convict on eve of scheduled release

Total 16 jail inmates killed, 213 missing

KATHMANDU, May 6: A day before the devastating earthquake hit the country, his wife and sister were desperate to welcome him home. Niraj Shahi, 34, of Teku-11 in Kathmandu was scheduled to be released on April 26 after serving two years at Central Jail on a drug smuggling charge.

But their eager wait turned into tragedy just before they reached the jail at Sundhara. Shahi breathed his last under the debris of the collapsed jail building, along with 15 other inmates.

Five days after the disaster, his wife Shanta Shahi, 30, received his body from the jail authorities and carried out the cremation.

In view of her husband's zeal to start afresh in life and avoid unlawful activities, the mother of two had borrowed Rs 100,000 to pay a fine that would obviate his need to serve any more time in jail, she said adding, "I don't know how I'm going to cope with my grief."

Niraj Shahi was arrested with the contraband from Tripureshwar and was sent to jail on July 22, 2013.

According to his sister Neha, the family lives in the slum area in Teku with their paralyzed father. "I was excited about seeing my only brother again but now I cannot believe he is no longer with us," she added.

Shahi was among 16 Nepali inmates in the Bhadragol Block, which housed over 200 inmates, said jailor Ved Bahadur Karki, adding that 72 of them were injured in the quake.

Of those injured, nine are being treated in the prison hospital and two were referred to Om Hospital. Central Jail has some 2,600 inmates, about double its capacity.

Kaji Pokharel, an official at the Department of Prison Management (DPM) at Kalikasthan, said that 213 jail inmates across the country have been missing after the quake destroyed prison cells and walls.

Of the total missing, 209 were incarcerated in Sindhupalchowk, three at Central Jail and one at Dillibazar Jail. Seven inmates came into contact with the authorities after having exited their prisons during the earthquake.

The jail authorities at Nakkhu in Lalitpur and in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Kavre, Dolakha, Rautahat, Taplejung, Ramechhap, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Bhojpur, Panchthar, Parsa, Gorkha and Solukhumbu have reported to the home minister about the need to repair the quake-hit prisons at the earliest.

In view of the security sensitivity, 50 inmates from Central Jail have been shifted to Nakkhu Jail, DSP Mohan Pariyar, security head at Central Jail, informed.

Most of the damaged prison buildings and walls were constructed 81 years ago