Crime networks being operated from Punjab jails go unchecked

: Several inmates continue to run criminal networks from inside the Punjab jails as the security apparatus in these prisons is compromised.

This despite the fact that Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are deployed in four high-security jails in Amritsar, Bathinda, Ludhiana and Kapurthala. Police officials say many serious crimes are being conspired from inside the prisons by notorious gangsters and drug smugglers. On Sunday, the Amritsar (rural) police arrested one Himmat Singh and recovered on his instance3-kg heroin from a sugarcane field in a border village. The police found that Himmat procured the contraband that was smuggled from Pakistan though the Ravi river. The entire smuggling operation was being run by one Malkit Singh who is lodged in the Fardikot jail, the police claimed.

Later, a mobile phone was recovered from Malkit.

On November 27, Munish (28), brother of a jailed gangster Sunny Gorilla, was shot dead in broad daylight in Amritsar. Deputy commissioner of police (DCP-investigation) Mukhwinder Singh Bhulllar said they brought notorious gangster Shubham on production warrant from the Faridkot jail only to find that he planned Munish’s murder from the jail.

Another incident of major security lapse was killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was gunned down by two bike-borne men at his residence in October.

The Tarn Taran police, which claimed to have solved the case with the arrest of 11 persons, said the conspiracy to kill Sandhu was hatched from Patiala and Ferozepur jails by gangsters Ravinder Singh, alias Gian and Sukhraj Singh, alias Sukha. Ravinder is a prime accused in the Nabha jailbreak case.

Tarn Taran SSP Dhruman H Nimbale had earlier said they were trying to find if some jail official was helping the accused. A senior police official said, “Nearly 90 percent of major crimes reported recently were planned from the state’s jails.” Additional director general of police (jails) PK Sinha said it was a matter of concern and they were making structural reforms.