Jail authorities refute prisoner’s phone smuggling allegations in viral clip

A video clip of a prisoner in Tihar jail accusing officials of smuggling cellphones has been widely circulated on social media platforms. The jail administration

A video clip of a prisoner in Tihar jail accusing officials of smuggling cellphones has been widely circulated on social media platforms. The jail administration Tuesday refuted the allegations and said that the prisoner was being questioned after his link to a recent case of phone smuggling within the prison came to light earlier this month.

HT Image

Though Hindustan Times could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, jail officers identified the man in the video as that of their prisoner, currently lodged in Jail Number 1.

In the four-minute-long video, the prisoner is seen with three cellphones. He accuses jail officials of being involved in smuggling phones within the prison. He requests people to share the video widely so that he is not punished or killed inside the prison.

It is unclear who first uploaded the video to social media. Jail officials suspect the prisoner must have sent the video through WhatsApp to his friends so it could be circulated widely on social media.

Refuting the allegations of phone smuggling, the prison’s director-general Sandeep Goel said, “He recorded this video to pressurise jail staff and to serve his vested interests. We will take action against him for this (using cellphones inside the prison).”

Using a cellphone is prohibited inside a prison. All prisoners have the option of using the prison’s landline phone to talk to their relatives or friends.

The officer said that the prisoner, as he claims in the video, is indeed an inmate of Jail 1. “He is a habitual criminal with cases of robbery and other offences against him. He has been in and out of jail several times. Some time ago, an alert member of the jail staff had foiled an attempt of some persons to smuggle phones into jail by throwing them over the wall. The CCTV camera footage had revealed that this prisoner was involved. We are taking action as per the jail manual against him.”

Jail officers also said that the allegations against them were baseless and that during a search, they found one phone in his possession. “We are trying to recover the other phones too,” Goel said.