The recovery of 50 mobile phones in the last one month from inmates inside the Faridkot Central Jail, which houses over 2,200 prisoners, has put a question mark on security arrangements here.
On an average, 12 to 15 mobile phones are recovered from inmates every month but there has been a significant increase in recoveries this September, when 18 cases were registered against 41 inmates.
As per the police, September’s recoveries have already taken the yearly count past the 150-mark.
In 2019, 98 phones were recovered from the inmates throughout the year, while the figure stood at 100 in 2020, when restrictions had been increased in view of Covid outbreak.
Even as the number of recoveries has been going up, authorities have been unable to trace how these phones entered the jail premises.
On September 2, as many as 17 mobile phones and accessories were seized from inmates during checking. On September 6, jail authorities recovered a mobile phone from the possession of gangster Navdeep Singh alias John Buttar. He was arrested by police after dramatic a shootout in Kharar last July. Buttar is accused in over 18 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, dacoity and extortion.
In March this year, jail authorities had recovered a mobile phone from a murder accused Prince alias Tutti. Police had claimed that Prince had planned to assassinate human rights activist Sushil Kumar Pandit inside the jail and hired two shooters to kill him. Pandit, a Kashmiri, is a prominent activist advocating the rights of Kashmiri Pandits. Prince was continuously in contact with the shooters through his phone from inside the jail.
{{/usCountry}}In March this year, jail authorities had recovered a mobile phone from a murder accused Prince alias Tutti. Police had claimed that Prince had planned to assassinate human rights activist Sushil Kumar Pandit inside the jail and hired two shooters to kill him. Pandit, a Kashmiri, is a prominent activist advocating the rights of Kashmiri Pandits. Prince was continuously in contact with the shooters through his phone from inside the jail.
{{/usCountry}}Last October, an assistant jail superintendent in Faridkot Central Jail was arrested by the vigilance bureau for accepting a bribe of ₹15,000 from a relative of a murder accused in lieu of not registering a complaint against the inmate after he was caught using a phone inside the jail.
Jail superintendent Joginder Pal said that jail authorities are taking strict action against the violators. “The phones recovered from the inmates are mostly old. We have recovered the phones and lodged complaints to the police. Now, this is the police’s job to investigate how these mobile phones come inside the jail,” he added.