LUCKNOW, Feb. 1 -- A jailer of the Banda district jail has been suspended after inmate and alleged gangster Ravi Kana was released despite a B Warrant pending against him. The scrap mafioso, who also goes by Ravindra Singh and Ravi Nagar, is suspected to have now fled the country.

The action was confirmed in an official note issued by the Prisons Administration & Reform Services headquarters here on Saturday. The statement acknowledged that prison authorities had prior knowledge of the B Warrant summoning the undertrial, but he was nonetheless released from custody. The department is treating the incident as a serious procedural lapse.

Based on a preliminary inquiry report submitted by the Banda jail superintendent, jailer Vikram Singh ...