Gurugram police conduct four-hour-long statewide drive to check for use of banned items

A statewide drive to check unlawful activities, such as the use of mobile phones and drugs inside jail premises, was carried out on Saturday. In Gurugram, two deputy commissioners of police headed the drive, which saw the participation of 160 police officials in the district. The police teams, however, failed to make any big recovery after the end of the four-hour-long drive. Overall, the searches lead to the recovery of 7 mobile phones, 6 SIM cards, 3 chargers, one pen drive, ₹46,350 cash, 3 grammes of opium, 2 small scissors, 3 injection syringes, 2 data cables, one mobile battery and a few sharp-edged materials made from utensils and iron nails from different jails in the state. 3 mobile phones were recovered from Kurukshetra jail, two from Faridabad, one each from Gurugram and Jhajjar. The police teams also recovered ₹35,510 from Faridabad and ₹10,840 from Kurukshetra. Maximum sharp-edged objects were recovered from Karnal. Three grammes of opium was seized from Jind.

The additional director general of police (law and order), Navdeep Singh Virk, said the searches that were conducted simultaneously on Saturday were part of a statewide routine drive to check for unlawful activities and use of illegal devices and substances in jails and ensure that jail premises are not used for criminal activities.

“Teams of about 150-200 policemen in each jail conducted the search operation. The teams conducted a thorough search of the jail premises, including barracks, kitchens, toilets and other places. All those found in possession of unlawful items are being booked under the law. It seems as if the jail authorities have been able to maintain strict control over the entry of illegal items inside jails,” he said.

Himanshu Garg, deputy commissioner of police (south and traffic), who headed the search operation, said that the drive was conducted to create deterrence among the inmates. “We carried out an extensive search in the morning between 9am and 1pm inside the Bhondsi jail but nothing objectionable was found except one mobile phone. The mobile was recovered near the barrack inside the premises,” he said. A case under section 42A of Prisons Act was registered against the unknown inmate at the Bhondsi police station on Saturday.

Jai Kishan Chillar, superintendent, Bhondsi Jail, said, “We have been regularly checking all the barracks to ensure no inmate is using any mobile phone inside the jail premises.A thorough check of the inmates is conducted when they return from court visits. This is because it has been observed in the past that mobile phones and drugs are often passed over to the inmates by their aides inside court premises,” he said.

According to police, these mobile phones are handed over to the inmates, who hide them in their socks or undergarments while returning to the jails. There have also been cases in the past wherein jail officials have been suspended for delivering mobile phones to inmates, the police said.