BENGALURU: Fifteen mobile phones, including a Samsung device worth Rs 1.3 lakh, seven electric mud stoves, five knives, three mobile phone chargers, two pen drives, Rs 36,000 cash, cigarette packets, beedi packets, and matchstick boxes were recovered during a police raid on a barrack of Bengaluru Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara, on Saturday.
The raid, by south division police, came days after a photograph of actor and murder accused Darshan relaxing with some rowdy-sheeters — Nagaraj alias Wilson Garden Naga, Shrinivas alias Kulla Seena, and others — in the prison went viral, embarrassing the authorities.
Twelve prison officers and staffers were suspended, and Darshan and his fellow accused were shifted to different jails.
Incidentally, Saturday’s raid was restricted to the barrack in which Naga is lodged. There are 21 barracks in the prison, according to Inside Karnataka Prisons, a report published in 2022 by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
Despite the FIRs registered and the staff suspended after the Darshan episode, the prison staff have failed to prevent or control illegal activities, or they continue to provide banned items to inmates. It clearly shows how corrupt the system in the prison is
Senior police officer
A 40-strong police team, led by deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Sarah Fathima and including Hulimavu, Begur, and Parappana Agrahara police inspectors, swooped down on the prison around 4.30pm. Naga’s barrack was searched after evacuating the inmates.
Four of the mobiles were found in the empty switchboard of the power control room and 11 devices were found wrapped in a water pipe in the bathroom of a cell.
The stoves seized were used to prepare tea, omelette and other dishes, the officer said. The raid went on till 8pm.
There are a few such places and they will be mentioned in the chargesheet, a senior police officer said.
Incidentally, the search operation was restricted to Naga’s barrack. The prison is divided into multiple blocks, each of which contains many barracks that house cells. Block 3, where Darshan was housed, wasn’t searched.
It may be recalled that Banaswadi rowdy-sheeter Dharma, who had got an associate to talk to Darshan on video call, is lodged in Block 3.
A separate case under the Karnataka Prisoners (Amendment) Act-2022 and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property) has been registered at Parappana Agrahara police.
The FIR identified convicts in Block C, high-security undertrials housed in Block 1, prison staffers and Karnataka State Industrial Force staffers as the accused.
Usually, prison raids are conducted by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths. On Aug 24, CCB raided the prison but wasn’t able to find anything significant.
However, within a couple of days, a photo of Darshan sitting on the lawn with some rowdy-sheeters and his manager Nagaraj, smoking a cigarette and sipping a drink, went viral. On the same day, a clipping of a video call from rowdy-sheeter Dharma’s phone also surfaced.
Three cases were registered then, including against prison staff and a convicted prisoner, for shifting a few items before the CCB raid. The cases are under investigation.
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