Bengaluru crime | 7 prison officials suspended over dereliction of duty after inmate birthday bash video goes viral

Bengaluru: The Prisons Department has initiated disciplinary action against seven officials of the Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara, for dereliction of duty after a video of an inmate celebrating his birthday inside the jail went viral.

A head warder and a warder have been suspended, while an assistant superintendent, two jailers, and two assistant jailers are facing departmental inquiry for allegedly dereliction of duty in connection with the incident, sources in the department told DH.

The video, which surfaced on social media, raised serious questions over internal security measures at the high-security facility.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for Prisons B Dayananda ordered a preliminary inquiry into the incident under the supervision of DIG (Southern Range) K C Divyashree.

The probe, whose report was submitted on Wednesday, revealed that seven officials, including a head warder, warder, assistant superintendent, two jailers, and two assistant jailers, were responsible for the incident.

DIG Divyashree has recommended disciplinary action against all seven officers and further action will be taken soon based on the findings of the disciplinary enquiry, a senior officer told DH.

What happened 

Srinivasa alias Gubbachhi Seena, a rowdy-sheeter lodged in the prison on murder charges, was seen wearing an apple garland and cutting cake with fellow inmates in the video.

The celebration is said to have taken place on September 9 in Barrack Number 6, Cell Number 7, during the afternoon hours.

Officials on duty allegedly failed to prevent the gathering, amounting to negligence. To trace the source of the mobile phone used to record the video, the department has lodged a complaint with the Parappana Agrahara Police Station. “The fellow inmates managed to bring the apples from Hopcoms located in the premises and used bread pieces from the prison’s bakery to make a cake”, the officer added.