Beur jail

Patna, June 23: Police conducted a raid on Beur jail premises in small hours today and recovered three mobile handsets as well as some chargers.

The raid started around 2.50am and continued till 5am. Besides the prisoners’ cells, the jail hospital and the Gol Ghar — housing hardcore criminals and Naxalites, the entire administrative building of the jail was combed.

The senior police officers claimed that the raid on the administrative building was a routine security check, but the jail insiders said it was under the scanner because of the alleged connivance between some of the jail officials and inmates.

“There have been tip-offs about some of the jail officials being hand-in-glove with the inmates of the prison. The prisoners used to get mobile phones and other banned substances from them. Without their help, it is impossible for the inmates to smuggle such things into cells,” a police source told The Telegraph.

“This is for the first time that the administrative building of the jail was checked for security purposes,” Patna City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande said, adding a threat call on June 17 to blow up the jail was one of the reasons behind the raid.

The raiding team recovered a mobile phone handset with an in-built camera and a few mobile chargers from the jail hospital.

“The cellphone was recovered from J.N. Singh, a senior office-bearer of the All India Banks’ Association. He is in prison in connection with a disproportionate assets case,” Lande said.

Sources said two more mobile phones were recovered from the inmates.

According to the sources, several inmates got a whiff of the raid when the cops were combing the administrative building. They managed to hide their cellphones.

“They just wrap the phones in polythene bags and bury them in the soil. Use of cellphones is rampant in the jail and it is known to all,” a police officer said.

Strangely, no jewellery was found on gangster Bindu Singh. Nor his attendant had a cellphone.

The police said probationary sub-inspectors (PSI) were engaged in the raid.

“Around 100 PSIs participated in the raid today. They got a first-hand experience of raiding a jail premises,” Lande said.