Jamshedpur, March 8: Following news of a tussle between Maoist rebels and slain JMM MP Sunil Mahto's supporters inside Sakchi jail, the administration has clamped unprecedented security in and outside the jail premises.

But that is hardly enough for JMM supporters who threatened to go for a hunger strike if their petition submitted to the superintendent of police today went unnoticed. They demanded shifting about 12 convicts, who had allegedly sided with the Maoists when a brawl took place over the assassination of Sunil Mahto recently, to Hazaribagh Central jail. JMM's central committee general secretary Sheikh Badhruddin said the convicts, who have been sentenced to life imprisonment, continue to stay in Sakchi jail by implicating themselves in small cases.

Jail superintendent, Bhagirathy Karji, admitted that there were convicts who should have been shifted to Central Jail in Hazaribagh or Ranchi, but are here as more trials are pending against them in the Jamshedpur court.

However, he said supporters of Mahto had turned belligerent even though the Maoists had made no provocative statements. Meanwhile, Karji said, some security measures have been taken. The Maoists have been taken to a separate cell, he said. The Telegraph