Delhi: 8 cellphones, 8 knives seized at Mandoli Jail during late-night raid

The prison headquarters had received information about the use of phones and prisoners concealing weapons in sub-jails 12 and 13 inside Mandoli.

On Sunday night when most prisoners inside Delhi’s Mandoli jail were watching the FIFA World Cup final match, more than 100 members of the jail staff and a Tamil Nadu Special Police (TSP) team conducted a surprise inspection. Hours before the raid, the prison headquarters had received information about the use of phones and prisoners concealing weapons in sub-jails 12 and 13 inside Mandoli. Most prisoners in these two jails belong to Delhi’s infamous Jitender Gogi, Sunil Tillu, and Irfan alias Chenu gangs.

Senior prison officers said this is the first time in recent years that such a large-scale raid was conducted. (HT Photo)

Between 9.25pm and 10.50pm, the teams entered cells and bathrooms, checked the prisoners’ belongings, and found at least eight cell phones and eight improvised handmade knives.

The prison’s director general, Sanjay Baniwal, said, “A special vigilance team was formed to conduct the raids. Cellphones and knives were found in spots such as toilet doors, behind tiles, water tanks, and non-working water pipelines. Some loose tobacco and white lime were also recovered.”

Baniwal said the prison department suspended two deputy superintendents and three head warders for the security lapses. Both cellphones and knives are prohibited items in prison. “We have also ordered an inquiry to probe the role of jail officers who helped the prisoners smuggle the phones. Action will be taken,” he added.

Senior prison officers said this is the first time in recent years that such a large-scale raid was conducted. To be sure, lieutenant governor VK Saxena held a meeting with the prison’s DG regarding a security review of the prisons last week. During the meeting, Saxena asked the DG to penalise prisoners using cell phones to continue their criminal activities. Prison officers said a security review meeting will be held every fortnight at the LG’s office.

“The raid caught prisoners by surprise. Because of the large number of security officers during the raid, the prisoners also did not get any time to change the locations of where they had hidden the prohibited items. Different teams entered the different wards at the same time so all prisoners were caught unaware,” said a prison officer, who wished not to be named.

The issue of prisoners using cell phones to run their criminal network was highlighted during the murders of Punjab singer and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala(May 2022) and gangster Jitender Gogi(September 2021). In both cases, investigating agencies found prisoners lodged in Delhi jails had actively coordinated over the phone from behind bars and planned the hit.

During the investigation of Moosewala’s murder, police also found that gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, had used a cellphone belonging to an Indian Mujahideen operative.