Heroin, mobile recovered Inside Jail; 3 Pisoners and PESCO employee booked
Ferozepur, May 15: Jail authorities and police have booked three prisoners along with a Punjab Exservicemen Corporation - PESCO employee after recovering 43 grams of heroin and a keypad mobile phone from inside the jail premises, raising serious questions over prison security arrangements.
The accused have been identified as prisoners Sukhdeep Singh, Gagandeep Singh, and Kuljit Singh, along with PESCO employee Gurmit Singh, who has also been arrested. The case was registered on the complaint of Gurpiar Singh, Deputy Superintendent Security, under the NDPS Act and Prison Act. Gurkanwaljit Kaur has been appointed as the Investigating Officer.
According to details, on the night of May 14 around midnight, prisoner Sukhdeep Singh, a resident of Faridkot serving a life imprisonment sentence, was entering the jail through the “deori” gate when security personnel conducted a search. During the frisking, 43 grams of heroin allegedly hidden inside his underwear was recovered.
During investigation, it was revealed that the contraband had allegedly been arranged by PESCO employee Gurmit Singh, who was posted on control room duty outside the jail.
In another recovery, jail officials found a keypad mobile phone along with its battery and a Vi SIM card from prisoner Kuljit Singh during a search operation. Investigation further revealed that an unidentified person had allegedly handed over the mobile phone to the PESCO employee for delivery to prisoner Sukhdeep Singh. Officials also found that communication between the accused prisoners had reportedly been facilitated through Gurmit Singh.
The repeated recovery of drugs, mobile phones, and other banned items from inside the jail has once again exposed serious lapses in prison security. Sources said that during the current year alone, jail authorities have recovered nearly 170 mobile phones from inmates and jail premises.
Police officials are reportedly adopting a cautious approach during investigations involving prisoners and generally avoiding police remand due to security concerns, except in highly sensitive or high-profile cases.