Arthur Road jail guard who was caught with drugs in his underwear dismissed

A jail guard at Arthur Road jail in Mumbai was dismissed from service after attempting to smuggle 70 grams of charas in his underwear. A case has been registered against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

MUMBAI: Four days after 70 grams of charas in capsule form were found inside an Arthur Road jail guard’s underwear, the prisons department dismissed him from services on Wednesday.

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The jail authorities had already registered a case against the guard, identified as Vivek Nai, for trying to smuggle in drugs. Naik has been a guard at Arthur Road jail for the past two years. “Additional director general of police, Maharashtra prisons, Amitabh Gupta decided to dismiss Naik from service invoking Article 311(2)(b) of the Constitution of India. The Article empowers the appointing authorities to dismiss or remove a person or to reduce him in rank if he is satisfied that for some reason it is not reasonably practicable to hold a departmental enquiry against him or her,” said a jail officer.

On Saturday, when Naik reported to duty, he refused to appear for a security check. One of the guards got suspicious and carried out a search and found 70 grams of charas hidden in plastic pouches in his underwear.

“The jail guards frisked him in the presence of senior prison officials and found eight plastic pouches hidden inside his underwear. When opened those capsules were found to contain a powdery substance which when weighed was 70 grams and was suspected to be charas. He also accepted that the substance was handed over to him by one Rahul and it was to be delivered to an inmate, Rashid, lodged in a high-security cell of the prison,” said the prison official.

The officials immediately handed Naik over to the NM Joshi Marg police who are enquiring into the matter after registering an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

The police said not everyone entering jail can be checked thoroughly. However, Naik was a suspect as he was earlier caught carrying money inside Taloja Jail in Navi Mumbai and was even punished for the same.

However, drug consumption in jails is not a new thing. Earlier in December 2022, jail guards had found drugs were being thrown from outside in the Arthur Road jail. The guards had at the time seized around 130 grams of charas packed in a polythene bag and a case was registered against unknown people for the same.