Patna, June 17: The security in and around the Beur Central Jail was beefed up in the early hours on Friday after a man threatened on phone to blow up the entire premises by 2am.

The caller, who identified himself as Chamal Singh, called up O.P Gupta, the superintendent of Beur Central Jail, and threatened that the premises would be blown up.

Police sources said the same person called up Gupta on his mobile phone on Thursday evening and asked him for money.

When Gupta disconnected the phone, the man, who claimed to be calling from New Delhi, called up the superintendent of police, who was in a meeting.

“The officer was getting calls from 9955737479. This morning, too, Gupta got at least three missed calls from the same number. As he reached the office, the other officials informed him that an unknown caller had threatened on the landline number of the jail to blow up the premises by 2am,” a police officer said.

Following this, cops at the Beur police station were informed about the calls.

Police sources said the number was being traced at this moment and it appeared to be a local number and not from New Delhi.

Sources also said the Chamal Singh, who called himself as a CPI (Maoist) cadre, had said he would free some rebels lodged in the jail.

“The security in the jail has been beefed up as a result of the threat call and the police are also holding vehicle checks around the area as a precautionary measure,” a police officer said.

In January this year, dreaded gangster Bindu Singh, who is also lodged in the same jail, allegedly attacked assistant jailor Ashok Kumar Singh on the jail premises.

Ashok Kumar Singh was earlier threatened by Bindu after jail warders assaulted the don on January 20.

On January 22, Sanjeev Kumar, a sharp shooter of the Bindu Singh gang, was arrested when he had gone to meet Bindu in jail apparently before getting on with his “job” of killing the assistant jailor on the instruction from his boss.

In May this year, former MP Pappu Yadav had allegedly threatened one of the doctors of the jail after the latter had refused to give him a fake illness certificate.