Man arrested for throwing mobile phone into jail

The police arrested a 25-year-old Sohna resident on Friday afternoon for throwing a packet containing a mobile phone and sim card to an inmate inside Bhondsi jail,

The police arrested a 25-year-old Sohna resident on Friday afternoon for throwing a packet containing a mobile phone and sim card to an inmate inside Bhondsi jail, the police said.

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According to the police, around 1.45pm on Friday when Jai Kishan Chillar, superintendent, Bhondsi Jail, was about to leave for his lunch break, he spotted a man taking rounds near the jail’s boundary wall. He watched his movements for five minutes and witnessed him throw a white packet inside the wall.

“I immediately alerted my staff and asked the warden to pick up that packet from inside, while my team and I caught the suspect. Meanwhile, we alerted the Bhondsi police station as well,” Chillar said.

During questioning, the suspect, identified as Salauddin Khurshid, a resident of Sohna, revealed that his cousin was lodged inside the jail in a fraud and snatching case. “He had come to the jail with his friend Arshad, who had asked him to throw the mobile phone in while he went to meet the inmate. He said they had parked the motorcycle at the parking lot, and after finding a spot place where there were no policemen, he took advantage and threw the packet in,” Chillar said.

Recently, the jail staff had recovered a few mobile phones from inmates and cases had been registered against them.

Preet Pal Sangwan, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said that they are questioning him to get details of the inmate and if he had committed a similar crime earlier as well. “We have arrested him and are conducting raids at suspected locations to arrest Arshad, who fled the spot,” he said.

The case was registered under Section 42A of the Prisons Act at Bhondsi police station, the police said.

Chillar said that they conduct regular surprise checks in the barracks to ensure no illegal activity is carried out.

In August 2014, the state government amended the Haryana Prisons Act 1894 to control the smuggling of cellphones into prisons. However, nothing has changed so far, officials said. As per the recent amendment, using mobile devices inside the jail premises is prohibited and anyone found in possession of such a device could get up to three years of additional jail time.