Bhubaneswar, June 4: Police recovered a huge cache of narcotics and cash during surprise raids on 12 jails, including Jharapada and Choudwar, today.
Several teams of police conducted simultaneous raids in jails across the state's districts, including Sambalpur, Berhampur, Keonjhar and Balasore, in the early hours today and found large quantities of chewing tobacco, cigarettes, beedis and ganja, apparently used by the prisoners. They also recovered cash from the inmates.
The cops found Rs 16.72 lakh and nine mobile phones from the office of Sambalpur Circle Jail jailer Susanta Rout, while a television set was recovered from Choudwar Circle Jail's medical cell where stevedore tycoon Mahimananda Mishra was lodged.
Sambalpur superintendent of police Akhileshvar Singh said Rout failed to provide a satisfactory reply regarding the presence of huge amounts of cash in his chamber.
"We have also seized nine mobile phones from his chamber. He claimed that the money belonged to the inmates and also government funds to purchase items for the jail," he said.
"We have brought three registers of the jail for verification. A joint inquiry report will be submitted to the home department, director general of police and inspector general (prison) in this regard," the Sambalpur police superintendent said.
The haul gave an insight into some of the privileges enjoyed by the inmates. Ranjan Das, an accused in the deposit collection scam by Swastik India, had earlier alleged that the Jharapada jail authorities provided special privileges in lieu of money.
In 2009, Jharapada jail warden Manas Ranjan Naik was found murdered. During investigations, the cops discovered that Ganjam-based gangster Bikram Mallick, who was serving time at the jail at that time, was the brains behind the crime. They also found a mobile phone, three SIM cards and a mobile charger from his cell. During one such raid in September 2015, the police had found narcotic substances, two LCD television sets and a music system from various cells of Choudwar jail. Deputy commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar, Satyabrata Bhoi said three platoons of police personnel conducted the raids at Jharapada jail. "Around Rs 2,000 in cash and narcotic substances were recovered from the inmates," said Bhoi.
Deputy commissioner of police, Cuttack, Sanjeev Arora said a detailed report about the articles seized during the search operation at Choudwar jail would be given to the authorities concerned.
Several gangsters such as Raja Acharya, S.K. Hyder and Bikram Mallick are lodged at the jail. Besides, several accused in the deposition collection, including the BJD's Mayurbhanj MP Ram Chandra Hansda, are also lodged there. It is often alleged that criminals lodged at Jharapada jail have been using cell phones from the premises to remote control their crime network.
Additional director general of police (prisons) Arun Kumar Ray said disciplinary action would be taken against jail officials from where mobile phones were seized.
"We will conduct an inquiry to find out the source of the cash. We have a provision of giving Rs 3.5 lakh as cash advance to jails to meet the emergency requirements of inmates," he said. According to rules, alcohol, weapons and mobile phones are prohibited in jails in Odisha.
