Bihar: Beur and Nawada jail superintendents among 6 officers to be suspended

36 cell phones, 17 chargers, seven SIM cards and contraband were recovered in the search operations inside jails in Bihar.

At least six officials of Bihar’s prison department including superintendents of Beur central jail and Nawada divisional jail were suspended after surprise raids by respective district administrations on March 3, leading to recovery of mobile phones, accessories and contraband from prisoners.

On March 3, a massive search operation was launched by the state police inside state's jails. (Representative image)

The home department issued show cause notice against the suspended superintendent of Beur central Jail. The suspension orders of the officers cited “gross negligence” as the reason for action. The administration found that within five days, five cell phones, SIM cards, charger and pen-drive were recovered from Beur jail during separate raids conducted by Patna DM Chandrasekhar Singh and IG (Prison) Mithilesh Mishra. Later a probe was ordered into the matter.

The prison department found that when Patna DM along with city SP (West) Ashok Mishra, reached the Beur jail, the deputy jail superintendent, Sanjay Kumar, reached 30 minutes late, delaying the search by an hour and alerting the inmates.

Then jail superintendent, Satyendra Kumar, was accused of waylaying the team by showing them only one special cell. The senior officials were also misguided when they wanted to visit the Division Ward but were taken to the Vigilance Ward instead by Satyendra Kumar, officials said on condition of anonymity.

Similarly, in Nawada divisional jail, district administration carried out more than seven raids since August 11, 2018 and recovered unauthorised equipment. On March 3, the district administration led by superintendent of police (SP) Dhurat Sayli Savlaram recovered nine cell phones, four chargers, three batteries, headphones and play cards.

According to the officials of the home department, Beur jail superintendent Satyendra Kumar, deputy jail superintendent Sanjay Kumar, Nawada jail superintendent Mahesh Rajak, deputy jail superintendent Ramvilas Das, Warden Ajay Kumar Singh and Abhinav Kumar—were suspended with immediate effect.

Talking to HT, Mishra said investigations were still going on and action could be taken against more jail personnel. He said on March 3, a massive search operation was launched by the state police in collaboration with the district magistrates, following reports of gangsters using social media sites from inside jails. 36 cell phones, 17 chargers, seven SIM cards and contrabands were recovered in the search operations.

The department also transferred 18 jail superintendents including SPs of Beur and Purnia central jails besides divisional jails of Aurangabad, Supaul, Sheohar, Banka, Madhepura, Buxar, Nawada, Benippati etc.