According to sources, the trouble broke out when the jail authorities sought an explanation from some of the prisoners for boycotting Gandhi Jayanti celebrations in the prison on Saturday.

The naxalite convict J Ravinder Reddy, who incited the boycott of the Gandhi Jayanthi celebrations, entered into an altercation with the officials and soon about 300 other inmates joined Reddy in denouncing the attitude of the jail authorities. They raised slogans against jail superintendent B Mahender Reddy and encircled the staff.

On hearing the flare-up, the superintendent sounded the alarm and rushed to the spot. The agitated prisoners refused to retreat into cells and were about to attack Mahender Reddy forcing the latter to use force.

The prisoners were lathi-charged and it was a free-for-all for sometime inwhich 15 prisoners were believed to have suffered injuries. Four jail staff too received minor bruises. It took the jail authorities around 45 minutes to finally force the prisoners into their barracks.

When contacted, Mahender termed the incident as minor and said that minimum force was used to disperse the inmates. However, he ruled out the involvement of naxalite prisoners in the episode. ``Ravinder provoked other inmates,'' the superintendent said.

Ravinder led the boycott of Prisoners' Welfare Meeting convened in connection with Gandhi Jayanti.