Ghaghidih Central Jail, where two live cartridges were found on Sunday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

The East Singhbhum district police on Monday carried out an extensive raid inside Ghaghidih Central Jail in a follow-up to the recovery of two live cartridges from the prison premises on Sunday, but failed to zero in on any inmate who might have been involved in ammo smuggling.

Also, police could not find any pistol or firearm, which could have been used to fire the two .315mm bullets, during the three-hour-long early morning raid that began around 5am. “The administration carried out an extensive search inside the central jail but nothing objectionable was found,” said SDO Dhalbhum Prem Ranjan.

Jamshedpur city SP Karthik S., DSP (law and order) B.N. Singh, city DSP K.N. Chowdhury, DSP (police control room) J. Kerketta and Parsudih and Bagbera thana officers-in-charge were also present during the inspection.

Police sources said the two bullets were recovered from an auto-rickshaw, which brought vegetables to the jail canteen, on Sunday morning during a regular check at the main gate. Auto driver Chaman Lal (38) was immediately arrested and interrogated.

“The driver seems to be innocent. But, as circumstantial evidence point to him and involvement of no other person has been established yet, we had to arrest him,” said a senior officer. Lal was forwarded to jail on Monday.

With the police failing to extract any valuable input from Lal, they raided the central prison, but again drew a blank.

Now, the police are planning to question Sakchi-based trader Surendra Tiwary who regularly supplies vegetables to the jail canteen.