The state government’s lackadaisical approach to filling vacant posts was responsible for the major security lapse at the Yerawada Central Jail on Friday that resulted in the murder of terror suspect Quateel Mohammed Zakir Siddiqui, say sources in the prison.

Contradicting them, retired high-ranking police officers strongly objected to the claim that manpower crunch was behind the lapse. They said that manpower crunch in the jail was nothing new and the blunder that took place was a result of the inability of the security in-charge to use the existing strength judiciously.