Kozhikode: In a quick face saving effort in the wake of news reports that undertrial prisoners involved in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case were having a whale of a time inside the jail with high-end mobile phones and Facebook posts and pictures, Home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan who dashed down to Kozhikode on Tuesday morning, had a real time feel of the situation inside the district prison.
Addressing mediapersons after spending more than an hour inside the prison, the Home Minister said he had directed a high-level team comprising DGP K.S. Balasubramaniam, the Home Secretary and DGP (Prisons) Alexander Jacob to complete the probe and submit a report into the circumstances that led to the reported violation of jail laws, as soon as possible. “All steps will soon be taken to activate mobile jammers in the prison. Talks have already been held with higher officials on installing mobile censors inside jails”, he said.
On the pathetic plight of jail officers who are being forced to live at the mercy of undertrial prisoners, Thiruvanchoor said the accused in the TP ChandrÂasekharan murder case had been unleashing terror inside the prison, threatening officers and even manhandling officials who dared to question them for violating prison laws.
The jail staff who poured out their woes to the Minister, reportedly told him about the rude behavior of the prisoners and the way they (staff) were being ill treated in the last few months.
“We have our limitations in handling undertrial prisoners”, Thiruvanchoor said, adding that the permission of the trial court would be sought to send the prisoners to other jails in the state.“We would invite the attention of the court on how the said prisoners have made operations inside the prison a matter of terror”, he said.
Referring to the comments of DGP Alexander Jacob who on Monday had said that there was no evidence to show that the photographs had been taken inside the prison, Thiruvanchoor said they were mere preliminary observations. “All steps will be taken to avoid all such lapses”, he said.
Referring to the failure of the police in seizing the mobile phones, he said that instead of conducting raids when there was a news break, the raids should have been a regular feature. “We won’t allow any illegal object inside jails in future”, he added.
“Immediate measures would also be taken to resolve the shortage of manpower in prisons”, he said.
ThiruvÂanchoor who landed here at 6 am, was in close talks with DGP Alexander Jacob, Intelligence ADGP T.P.Sen Kumar and Chief Prosecutor in the TP murder trial, Adv C.K.Sreedharan, before going to the prison.
Meanwhile, the preliminary report submitted by DGP Alexander Jacob to the Home Minister makes a reference to the fact that some of the officials had colluded with the accused in facilitating the use of mobile phones. In the late night raid conducted by the DGP on Monday mobile phone chargers and covers were recovered.
The DGP also directed that a voice analyzer test be held to ascertain whether it was Muhammed Shafi, one of the accused in the T.P.murder case, who had spoken to a channel reporter over phone. The channel had aired the conversation between the reporter and the prisoner on Monday.
The DGP also directed the IT Department to collect evidence from Facebook authorities on the use of mobile phones and the act of uploading photographs from the premises of prisons.
Meanwhile, the Kasaba police registered a case against the undertrial prisoner for violating jail norms, acting on a complaint submitted by the jail superintendent.
