Parapanna Agrahara Central prison raided by Southeast Division police seized Mobile Phones,Cash,Drugs,Knives and other items

Pramesh S Jain & Binish Thomas (Sub-Editor)

Raid by the Southeast Division police on the Central Prison Complex at Parappana Agrahara on Sunday led to the seizure of 15 mobile phones,chargers,knives, cash,drugs and various other goods.

This comes two weeks after nine prison officials, including the chief superintendent,were suspended and a new set of officials posted there over the preferential treatment given to actor Darshan and rowdy sheeters in the jail.

Home Minister,G.Parameshwara had promised that the security at the prison would be overhauled.

However,this had not put a stop to the irregularities inside the prison.A few days ago,a visitor who had come to meet an undertrial was caught red-handed trying to smuggle 46 gm of MDMA.

Another inmate had recently ransacked a room in the prison and behaving violently,raising suspicion that he was under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics.

Alarmed by this,the Southeast Division police,probing the alleged irregularities at the prison,conducted the raid in the morning.

Barracks,including those housing Rowdy Sheeters Wilson Garden Naga and others seen with Darshan, were searched and goods recovered,sources said.

The seized electronic gadgets and mobile phones were being verified and prison officials in charge of the security would also be questioned,a senior official said.

This only shows that despite heightened security measures,CCTV surveillance and the Tower-Harmonic Call Blocking System (T-HCBS),mobile phone use continues inside the prison complex.

Apart from mobile phones,chargers,and other electronic gadgets the police also confiscated tobacco products,a small amount of narcotics,knives and Rs.36,000 in cash from different barracks during the searches.

It can be recalled that during a similar raid on the prison on August 24, sleuths from the Central Crime Branch failed to find any illegal goods to only realise later that prison officials had been tipped off about the plan and all goods had been shifted from cells hours before the operation.

The next day a photograph and a recording of a video call of Darshan went viral,putting the spotlight on irregularities inside the prison complex.