Tihar prisoners smuggle in mobiles to run their rackets

 Mobile phones are increasingly being smuggled into Tihar Jail despite inmates given access to the telephone facility two times a week. A study over the years has revealed that they are mostly used by the criminals to run their illegal activities from inside the jail.

According to prison data, 38 mobile phones smuggled into the jail have been recovered in past three years. It has now forced authorities to ban inmates from availing home-cooked food. 

A growing number of jailed politicians and wealthy businessmen accused of corruption are likely to be the worst-hit by the new rule, which came into force a week ago.

Most requests for allowing home food come from jailed VIP prisoners. “However, illegal articles are rarely recovered from VIP inmates,” Tihar Gupta said adding that the jail officers have orders to regularly conduct surprise checks.

Once caught, the inmates are punished as per the provisions of Delhi Jail Manual. As part of punishment, facility of meeting with visitors is also withdrawn. 

Mobiles are smuggled despite the fact that facility of using mobile phone is available to all inmates twice a week for five minutes each. 

The facility, however, can be discontinued if the prisoner fails to adhere to good conduct. It can also be withdrawn if the undertrial is found establishing contact with a fellow criminal through the official phone, the officer said, and such prohibitions probably compel prisoners to resort to smuggling of mobile phones.

To curb the use of cell phones, 32 mobile phone jammers and 258 CCTV cameras have been installed. Apart from these, door frame metal detectors, hand held metal detectors, X-ray scanners are also installed at the entry gates for the screening of articles brought by the jails. 

Cases of drug recovery are also on rise as six such incidents were reported to police, which lead to action under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. In one of the latest incidents, mobile phones, drugs and money were found from the possession of gangster Neeraj Bawana along with two other prisoners in August. Neeraj was using the mobile phone to run his extortion racket from inside the jail.

Two days after the incident, two motorcyclists were arrested near the jail on tip-off that they had come to deliver a consignment to a prisoner. They were carrying a wine bottle and cigarettes.

As on December 31, 2012, there were 8,887 undertrials and 3,219 convicts in Tihar.