The Jahanabad prison attack, also known as the Jahanabad jail break incident was a Naxalite operation, conducted by the members of Communist Party of India (Maoist) against the state of Bihar, on 13 November 2005. In the backdrop of legislative assembly elections being conducted in the state and lack of elected government in power, the state machinery was involved in conducting the elections in free and fair manner. The President's rule (imposed earlier) was being implemented in the state, and the Naxalites found it a good opportunity to conduct this massive operation. As per various reports, around 12 people, all belonging to Ranvir Sena (who were incarcerated in Jahanabad prison) were killed by the Naxalites in this incident. This event was not centred around the prison only, which was the centre of operation, but around 1000 Naxalites were inside the city of Jahanabad, who virtually controlled the city for a short span of time. A total of 389 prisoners were freed by the Naxalites in this operation codenamed 'Operation Jailbreak'. Those who were freed, also included Ajay Kanu— a top level Naxal commander, and many of the Maoists. The operation was conducted by People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (India)— a militant underground unit of CPI (Maoist).
Incident
On 13 November 2005, late in the evening, the Naxalites entered the town of Jahanabad in central Bihar. According to estimates, they were over thousand in number. As per various reportings, the Maoists (Naxalites) had arrived on vehicles with 'police' written on them and they were all dressed in police uniform. However, the spectators are said to have witnessed the loose fitting uniforms worn by many of them, which caused suspicion. The attack was pre-planned and before they arrived, the electricity of the whole city went off. Since, in those days, the supply of electricity in the state was erratic and irregular, it appeared to be a normal incident for most of the inhabitants of the city. Some people are reported to have observed the bathroom slippers, below the police uniform, worn by many of the Maoists, which caused uneasiness among them. After entering, they dispersed throughout the city and captured the strategic locations to avoid any counter measures by the state and the security forces.
A band of Maoists, in the vicinity of prison, moved towards the nearby locality announcing the people to stay inside their houses. On megaphones, they announced that, they have no quarrel with the common people and their mission is only against the state administration (Prashashan). Around 9:05 P.M, a bomb was exploded, which was the call to start the operation. The attack was simultaneously made on the police line (the official accommodation provided to the constabulary and lower rank police officials by the Government of Bihar) and the prison. The police line also included district armoury, and at the time of attack, it was ill-equipped due to lack of manpower. Since the elections were going on the state, most of the policemen were on election duty, posted away from the police line.
Jahanabad was surrounded by Gaya and Patna district and for the same reason (policemen sent on election duty) the arrival of reinforcement from these districts was not possible. Some of the Maoists also planned to raid the district armoury, but the District Magistrate's had deployed 8 guards and 11 policemen to save the weapons from being robbed by the Maoists; the Maoists thus played safe and retreated without making any attempt on the armoury. However, latter retreated only after two hours of exchange of fire between them and the authorities. In the south of the police line, there existed a railway track and two Maoists had arrived there possibly with the intent to break the railway track by exploding a bomb. However, after the incident, the authorities found both of them in critical situation; one, who was holding a bomb, that had exploded, was dead and other was severely wounded.