Cop tries to smuggle in phones for terror suspect in jail, held

A City Armed Reserve (CAR) constable has been arrested by the Parappana Agrahara police after he was caught red-handed by the security staff of the central jail while trying to smuggle in two smartphones for a prisoner accused in a terror case.

The arrested has been identified as Dinesh, a CAR south constable who is serving in the department for the last five years.

The prisoner in question has been identified as Nazir, an accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial bomb blasts, the police said.

According to police, at around 9.30 am on Wednesday, Dinesh arrived at the central prison with a warrant for another prisoner. He deposited his mobile phone and other belongings at the entrance and easily passed through Gate-1 with the smartphones hidden in the trouser pockets of his uniform and the warrant papers in his hand.

At Gate-2, the guards grew suspicious and frisked him to find two Samsung Galaxy-2 smartphones without SIM cards.

The guards informed their higher-ups who, in turn, informed the jurisdictional Parappana Agrahara police. The latter rushed to the prison, seized the phones and took him into custody.

Upon questioning, the police learnt that Dinesh had tried to smuggle in the phones for a bribe of Rs 5,000 from the associates of the terror suspect. Dinesh used to escort Nazir to the court and back to prison, after hearings, over the last three years.

DCP (Southeast) Boralingaiah and his team had conducted raids on the central prison around three weeks ago.

The team had seized small packets of ganja along with four SIM cards, after which cases were registered. The jurisdictional police had launched an investigation.