59 prisoners take ill in Mysore jail

In all, a total of 1,500 prisoners were served with Uppittu for breakfast at 7 am, while they had been served with chapathi, ragi balls, rice and curry on Wednesday night. After an hour, about 20 prisoners complained of diarrhoea. Following their complaints, the prisons authorities arranged for treatment at the hospital on the premises of jail. Even as they were being treated the number of prisoners falling ill increased forcing the authorities to shift the remaining to K R Hospital.

Mandi police inspector Kiran Kumar told Deccan Herald that they received a call from the jail at around 10.30 am. Soon a van belonging to City Armed Reserve (CAR) police force was sent to the jail only to shift them to K R Hospital. Among them include 19 women. Slain forest brigand Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi and suspected Naxal Vijaya Bai have also been admitted for treatment. Of them, a few are diagnosed of dehydration. As the jail ward was short of beds, it was decided to treat the prisoners in the jail ward. But it was frying-pan-to-fire situation as the general ward too was devoid of adequate facilities with two prisoners being treated on each of the beds.

MP H Vishwanath visited the hospital and enquired about the health of the prisoners. Adequate police security has been arranged at the ward.