Punjab Police ASI caught trying to smuggle drugs into Kapurthala jail fired

Cop tells interrogators that a jail inmate had called up his accomplice to hand over the drugs to him when he was escorting prisoners to a Jalandhar court for a hearing on Tuesday

KAPURTHALA: The services of assistant sub inspector Jatinder Singh, who was caught smuggling 50 gm of charas into the Kapurthala Modern Jail on Tuesday, were terminated on Wednesday.

In the 13 cases of recovery of drugs in the Kapurthala jail last year, the involvement of prison officials was established in five. In 2018, of the 10 drug recoveries from the Kapurthala prison, the involvement of jail staff was found in three. (HT file photo)

Though the ASI, posted with Jalandhar rural police, was assigned the duty to take prisoners from jail to court for hearings for the past one year, he claimed this was the first time he had smuggled in drugs. He told interrogators that a jail inmate had called up his accomplice to hand over the drugs to him when he was escorting prisoners to a Jalandhar court for a hearing.

Kotwali station house officer inspector Navdeep Singh said, “We have sought call details of the ASI’s phone to ascertain whether he was receiving directions from the jail directly and to explore other investigation angles as well.”

Requesting anonymity, a senior police official said that the ASI faced an inquiry for misconduct and in a corruption case earlier too but was given a clean chit.

Jalandhar senior superintendent of police Navjot Singh Mahal said a case was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against the ASI and his services had been terminated.

The district court granted a day’s judicial remand though the Kotwali police had sought three days to interrogate Jatinder Singh.

DRUG RACKET IN JAIL

In the 13 cases of recovery of drugs in the Kapurthala jail last year, the involvement of jail officials was established in five. In 2018, of the 10 drug recoveries from Kapurthala jail, the involvement of jail staff was found in three.

Mobile phones continue to find their way into the jail. Last year, 200 phones were seized, while 170 phones were seized from inmates in 2018.

Kotwali police station records show the jail staff seized 48 mobile phones in 2013, 70 in 2014, 75 in 2015, 82 in 2016,, while 85 cell phones were recovered in 2017, besides the seizure of SIM cards and chargers.

At present, the jail has 13 mobile jammers to prevent 3G signals but most of the jammers are non-functional, a senior officer said.

The jail authorities had recently upgraded security measures to clamp down of drug smuggling.

“A departmental inquiry has been initiated. We are checking if any other official is involved,” jail superintendent of police Baljit Singh Ghuman said.