21 cellphones recovered from Amritsar Central Jail in search operation
Amritsar, June 12
The seizure of mobile phones from the Amritsar Central Jail continues unabated with the prison authorities confiscating prohibited material from inmates during a search operation yesterday.
The matter came to light when jail officials lodged a complaint with the Islamabad police station in this connection. Twenty-one mobile phones were recovered during the search operation. This included six touch and 15 keypad cellphones. The mobile phones were handed over to the police which sent them for forensic examination. The number of mobile phones recovered during this year has reached over 450 this year.
Naresh Pal, Assistant Jail Superintendent, said besides cellphones, the jail staff seized 17 SIM cards of different telecom companies and two chargers during the search operation.
The inmates from whom cellphones were recovered included Palwinder Singh, aka Kaddu, Ranjit Singh, Rohit Gill, Amit, Rahul, Inderjit Singh, Harpreet Singh and Kuldip Singh. A case under Sections 42 and 52-A of the Prisons Act was registered against them in this connection.
“Investigations are in progress to ascertain to whom inmates have been calling on mobile phones. The entire nexus would be busted during probe,” said Dr Darpan Ahluwalia, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Sources in the Police Department said forensic examination of the seized mobile phones was in progress. Earlier probe revealed that jail inmates were contacting their accomplices outside for smuggling of prohibited material, including drugs, intoxicants, tobacco, cigarettes and biddies, besides cellphones into the jail premises. No recovery of prohibited items was made from the high security zone of the jail where gangsters and smugglers were lodged, the sources said.
The involvement of insiders, including security personnel, in smuggling prohibited material into jail for prisoners could not be ruled out, the sources said.
The Amritsar Central Jail in the Fatahpur is located in a densely populated area. The sources said a project to install iron mesh on boundary walls of the jail was already in the pipeline. It would prevent throwing of prohibited items on the jail premises from outside, the sources added.
