23 mobile phones seized from jail

As many as 23 mobile phones, along with tobacco pouches, packets of cigarettes, chargers and data cables, have been seized from the Central Jail here, according to sources.

The recovery comes close on the heels of the seizure of 10 mobile phones from the jail three days ago, following which 10 undertrials were booked.

On August 5, six undertrials were booked after 10 mobile phones were seized. Overall, more than 350 mobile phones have been seized from the jail this year. In the past, several incidents have come to the fore in which jail officials or other contractual employees were allegedly found involved in facilitating the provision of the phones to inmates.

In a recent incident, security guard Jaswant Singh was nabbed following the seizure of six mobile phones from his possession.

On June 27, police commando Sukha Singh was arrested while he was on duty near the main gate and heroin was seized from him. Earlier, the counter-intelligence wing of the police had nabbed jail warden Naib Singh on the charges of allegedly supplying drugs to the jail inmates, including notorious gangsters. Jail officials attributed the large number of recoveries of mobile phones to enhanced vigil and stringent security measures in the prison.

The sources said with a large number of residential and commercial buildings coming up in the close periphery of the jail, it has become easier for inmates’ associates to smuggle mobile phones inside the jail by just tossing it from the outside.