Tihar Jail gets Intelligence Cell to gather info on supply of arms, drugs in prison

Maintaining that a raid is being conducted by the cell “almost every alternate day”, the official said, “Inputs received from the cell are corroborated at the Tihar Jail headquarters and then a raid is conducted. As part of recent raids, charas, surgical blades, curtains to block the line of sight, and metal wires have been seized. Recently, based on a tip-off from the cell, a lawyer was apprehended trying to smuggle in charas for an inmate,” the official added.

One of the most frequently seized items has been Kechaoda mobiles – tiny devices that work as phones due to their superb sound quality and reception in small-to-medium ranges.

“These devices, smaller than a human thumb, have been confiscated in the raids. The inmates use sticks to press the dial buttons to make calls… these are smuggled inside the jail in body cavities,” a senior official said.

Meanwhile, to bolster the response time in case of an emergency, an additional quick response team (QRT) has been deployed at Tihar Jail. The QRTs are to assist in emergency situations, such as when fights break out between inmates.

Officials said the main purpose of the new QRT is to ensure that if there is a delay on the part of the existing QRTs in reaching “high-risk wards”, it can reach the affected area and take action. “The new QRT will rule out any possibility of connivance between inmates and the already existing QRTs,” a senior jail official said.

The new QRT, which would be available round-the-clock, will comprise havaldar-rank officers from ITBP and CRPF as well as ASI-level officers from the jail cadre.

In the last five months, more than 500 articles, which are not allowed inside jails, have been seized at Tihar jail. “In all these instances, action was taken according to the prison manual. Also, from now on, FIR would be registered against anyone found in possession of any contraband inside the jail,” a senior jail official said.

In 2024, Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had approved the creation of 3,470 new posts in Tihar Jail. According to official documents, accessed by The Indian Express, the number of employees at Tihar before the said approval, till April 2024, was 1,799.

“It has now increased to 2,300 a year… though 1,170 of the approved posts are yet to be filled… Of the total staff, 1,800 are warders and matrons, 700 of whom would be promoted as head warders and head matrons in the next 2-3 months,” said a jail official.

“Posts that have to be filled through the recruitment process would be filled in one-and-a-half years,” the official added.

A former Tihar Jail official said that to break the syndicates operating inside the prison, the Intelligence Cell would need strict vigilance. “Previously, a band of two to three so-called petitioners used to roam around Tihar, covertly collecting information and reporting the same to DG (Prisons). But even inputs received in such a manner used to get compromised. So, several informers, across ranks, would be needed to make things better,” he added.