Phone smuggling into Yerawada jail: batteries in tennis balls, handsets packed in cotton

The balls and packages were found in the space between the two walls of the jail next to the area called Madi Gate of the prison, officials told the Express. A First Information Report in the case was registered at Yerawada Police station on June 26 under provisions of the Prisons Act, 1894.

“This seems like a mode of smuggling the cell phones into the prison. Such an act is not possible without collusion and coordination between the inmates inside and suspects outside. The forensic analysis of the cell phones and probe into the history of its usage may give us clues on this.” said an officer from the Prison department. “The case has been registered with the police and we too have launched an internal inquiry. One of the four cell phones is a smart phone and three of them have SIM cards,” the officer said.

This was the fifth instance of seizure of cell phones from inside the Yerawada Prison, which has the highest inmate population among the prisons of Maharashtra. As on May 31, the date of which the latest prison population numbers are available, the Yerawada Central Prison had a population of 6724 as against the sanctioned capacity of 2752 — 144 per cent overcrowding.

A senior officer from the prison department said, “The top officials from the department have taken a note of this seizure and review of the security measures is expected in light of the seizure of cell phones which could have been hurled from outside. The use of shock absorbing objects like balls or packaging is not new. There are mechanisms in place to prevent such acts, which will also be reviewed.”

Earlier four cases of cell phone seizures have been reported since April. On the evening April 1 around 6 pm, in a search conducted by three staffers at the Yerawada Prison, a cell phone was found after they checked a suspicious bend on the tin sheet wall of the bathroom of Barrack Number 3 of the Circle No 1 of Yerawada Prison.

On April 20, during a surprise sweep conducted in the evening, two cell phones were found inside a steel gate of one of the sections of the Anda Cell, the highest security cell of the Yerawada Prison. No SIM cards were found in these phones.

In the early hours of May 19, a cell phone with a battery and SIM card was found in barrack number 1 of the circle number 1 of the prison. Three days later a cell phone battery was recovered from an undertrial prisoner on May 22.

On June 3, a cell phone was recovered in Barrack number 8 of circle number 1 of the Yerawada Central prison.