At Tihar prison, a stuffed stocking reveals an audacious plan gone wrong

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“An internal inquiry is going on and strict action will be taken against the guilty officers after we get the probe report,” Tihar Deputy Inspector General Mukesh Prasad told The Sunday Express.

Initial investigations have revealed that two wardens may have been involved in the incident.

“On Monday evening, the two wardens decided to smuggle the prohibited articles through the deodhy (entry point) by concealing them in their body cavities. But they had to backtrack after they realised that security personnel were searching even the prison staff at the entry point,” said sources.

The wardens then allegedly changed their plan to smuggle in the items. According to the second plan, one of them would hurl a stocking stuffed with the items from outside the jail complex, while the second one would be inside to collect it.

The plan went haywire when instead of the predetermined spot, the loaded stocking landed near the interview room of jail no. 9, said sources. The cache was discovered by some Tihar officials on Tuesday morning.
“One of the officers involved in the plan was captured in the CCTV footage, but he tried to damage the DVR with the help of some officials. The matter was later forwarded to senior officers, who initiated an internal inquiry,” said sources.

According to the data provided by Tihar authorities, 32 prison officials have been found to be involved in the smuggling of prohibited items, including mobile phones and chargers, inside the prison complex during the last three years. Disciplinary action has been initiated in all the cases except two, where the proceedings have been dropped.

But this year, the high number of cell phones confiscated from inmates has been a cause of worry for prison officials.
“This year, over 70 cell phones have been recovered from inside the prison already. In the last four years, between nine to 40 cell phones were recovered from the prisoners in the entire year. It is suspected that the prisoners use these phones to conduct criminal activities from inside the prison,” said a jail official.