Gurgaon: 17 new jammers to be installed in Bhondsi jail

The move is aimed at curbing the use of mobile phones inside the correctional

Bhondsi jail will get 17 new jammers to curb use of mobile phones inside the premises. A sum of
₹64 lakhs has been sanctioned by the state government for beefing up the security inside the jail.

Seventeen mobile phone jammers will be installed over the next couple of months that will be able to intercept 4G signals, said a prisons department spokesperson. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Seventeen mobile phone jammers will be installed over the next couple of months that will be able to intercept 4G signals, said a prisons department spokesperson. The move to install jammers comes in the wake of large scale seizures of mobile phones from jail inmates.

Officials said some inmates were taking advantage of the fact that the jail premises did not have adequate jamming devices and the ones installed are technically not able to jam 4G signals.

A number of complaints were received by the crime branch regarding threat calls being made by gangsters from Bhondsi jail. Manjeet Mahal, a prominent gangster from Delhi, was booked by the Gurgaon police along with nine other persons after a plot owner in Sector 53 complained that a call had been made to him from inside the Bhondsi jail, asking him to settle the dispute amicably or face dire consequences.

It was because of the lack of technical skills that Gurgaon police has been resorting to repeated raids and physical checking inside the jail.

“The move to install new jammers is timely and was needed because it is difficult to practically check every nook and corner of the jail for these handsets. In the last raid in June, the crime branch team had recovered 21 mobile phones, 10 sim cards and chargers in a day long sweep,” Sumit Kuhar, DCP, crime, said.

Read I Gurgaon: Jammers inadequate at Bhondsi jail, 21 handsets recovered during day-long search

Sources in the police department said that it was very difficult to seize mobile phones and SIM cards, as inmates were using new and innovative ways to hide the devices. An official said that they found mobiles from commodes, septic tanks, washrooms and every nook and cranny where the phones could be hid.

“The most difficult recovery was a small Chinese mobile, which a prisoner had hidden inside his anus and it took hours to retrieve it,” a police officer said.