The luggage scanner at Bhanja Nagar Sub-Jail. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy Sunil Patnaik

Berhampur, July 28: A shootout by undertrials inside Bhanja Nagar Sub-Jail, which took place a few months ago, has prompted the high-security prison authorities to install baggage scanner at its gate.

The pistol, from which shots were fired during the shootout, was smuggled into the prison through a bag of food.

A number of mobile phones, SIM cards and some tender papers were also seized from some of the prison cells after the firing.

Police suspect that the mobile phones and SIM cards were handed over to the inmates by their family members, relatives and friends.

“A baggage scanner was installed in a jail in the southern part of the state for the first time,” said jailor of Berhampur Circle Jail Rabindra Kumar Roul.

As many as 152 convicts and 22 alleged Maoists are lodged in the jail, which is biggest such facility in the southern part of the state.

Earlier, two such scanners were installed in the Jharpada Special Jail in Bhubaneswar and Choudwar Central Jail near Cuttack, he said.

The cost of this scanner, including the computer, is around Rs 15 lakh. It has been installed in the visitor’s hall and every baggage, including those containing food, handed over to the prisoners by their relatives will pass through this scanner, said the jailor.

“The machine will do its job, but we will continue with our manual search operations,” said the jailor.

On February 12, Manoj Pradhan, an undetrial, shot dead a fellow prisoner, Dandeswar Swain alias Kalia, inside the jail.