Raid in prison; mobile seized

"Raid in prison; mobile seized:

Even as a probe is on over the seizure of solar-powered cell phone from a double-murder accused at Puzhal prison on Wednesday, police seized a sophisticated mobile phone without a SIM card during a search operation conducted last night.

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The operation was carried out by a special team, led by Madhavaram Deputy Commissioner Annie Vijaya after the receipt of specific information. The team frisked both remand prisoners and convicts lodged in separate blocks. They also checked more than 300 police personnel deployed in the complex for over three hours and the search operations was conducted using sniffer dogs and bomb detector. It may be recalled that the officials found the hi-tech mobile phone wrapped in a plastic sheet and buried under a mango tree near Block V of the Puzhal prison on 12 May. The double-murder accused Bharath who was arrested in April along with 10 other suspects in Vellore, was found using the device. The accused was in prison in connection with the murder of a gangster and his accomplice in March. The team, however, could not locate the SIM card of the mobile. A search is still on. The officials found the rear side of the instrument had an in-built solar panel and it could be charged even as it was being used. It may be recalled that after two months of continuous monitoring, a surprise raid was conducted on 10 October 2009 by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) uncovered major irregularities in several departments in Puzhal prison. Apart from seizing cash, television sets and other banned items from officials and prisoners, the exercise also exposed large-scale corruption and pilferage of food items from the prison store. The team also raided the office of the assistant jailor, Rajendran and seized Rs 1,700, an amount he had allegedly collected from visitors. The team seized 21 pornographic CDs from the room of the assistant jailor, Yuvaraj, who, according to sources, had collected them from the accused in video piracy cases. DVAC also seized Rs 1,500 from Dr Somasundaram, the resident medical officer in the prison.

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