“I am Justice Barucha speaking. Why have you not yet suspended DIG Abbai? I want a report by this evening”.

This call was received by none other than Home Minister M P Prakash just a week prior to the suicide of Deputy Inspector-General of Prisons B S Abbai, who was in charge of the Bangalore Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara.

Narrating this incident in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Mr Prakash said the call had been traced to Parappana Agrahara itself. The imposter, claiming himself to be Justice Barucha, had also made similar calls to the office of the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice of Karnataka, Mr Prakash said.

After coming to know that he had been identified, the imposter stopped his calls. Without identifying the imposter, Mr Prakash said he was “intelligent” and likened him to Charles Sobhraj.

The Home Minister said the government had ordered a comprehensive departmental inquiry into the events leading to the suicide of the DIG. “He was a dedicated, hard-working and sensitive person,” Mr Prakash said and added that Mr Abbai had left a note stating that he had not done anything wrong or allowed prisoners to do any wrong.

In view of the complaints that several prisoners were using cellphones, ADGP S T Ramesh had personally supervised a search of the prison recently. After some prisoners were found with cellphones and one prisoner was found using an electric coil to cook food in his barrack, the officer had written to the government recommending disciplinary action against Mr Abbai and others.

The Home Minister said that Mr Abbai had met him and expressed his anguish over the issue. “We had told him not to worry and carry on with his duties,” Mr Prakash said.

WHAT’S COOKING?
You might have heard of prisoners using mobile phones and radios. Have you ever heard of cooking in prison cells? Some notorious prisoners having connections with high and mighty at Parappana Agrahara jail in Bangalore do cook their own food. Recently, water heating coils and sugar packets were seized from some cells at the jail. This was revealed by Home Minister M P Prakash in the Legislative Council on Monday. When ADGP (Prisons) Ramesh paid a surprise visit to trace the call Mr Prakash  had received from the jail, he found prisoners cooking in the cell.