A senior officer of the Department of Prisons has ordered an inquiry into allegations of ill-treatment of inmates, in the wake of reports of irregularities in the Hindalga Central Prison in Belagavi.
Jail Superintendent Krishna Kumar has ordered the inquiry into the allegations that some inmates are using mobile phones that are smuggled into the jail with the connivance of some staff members.
A few days ago, some video clips were circulated on social media about corruption by jail officials and supply of poor quality food. Two inmates have filmed another who is saying that the prison kitchen used crystal salt that is used as a preservative and is not edible.
In July this year, police from Nagpur in Maharashtra took into custody Afsar Pasha, an inmate convicted in a terror attack case, on the charge that he instigated another inmate Jayesh Pujari alias Shreyas alias Mohammad to make threat calls to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Earlier, in March, Pujari was shifted to Nagpur. And, Nagpur Police wrote to the Additional Director-General of Police in Bengaluru complaining against the use of smuggled SIM cards and mobile phones in Hindalga.
“We are inquiring into all these aspects,” Mr. Kumar said. However, one of the allegations is found to be fake and mischievous.
“We found that the video about the use of crystal salt is fake and it is intended to bring a bad name to officials. We have filed a case against three inmates on the charge of smuggling a mobile phone and crystal salt packets into the jail and of spreading rumours,” Mr. Kumar said.
A first information report (FIR) has been registered against Saikumar alias Kunigal Suri, Rahul Ghatage and Abubakar Kathe, he added.
