Police take 4 months to register FIR for mobile seizure in jail

12 INMATES OF BATHINDA CENTRAL JAIL BOOKED; LAST SEIZURE NOTIFIED IN JAN; SSP SAYS WILL ACT AGAINST THOSE BEHIND THE DELAY

BATHINDA::BATHINDA: Police took as many as four months to register first information reports (FIRS) in cases of recovery of mobile phones from inmates of the Bathinda central jail even as the prison authorities had informed them immediately.

An FIR was registered on Tuesday against 12 inmates, including one woman, under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 52A of the Prison Act for recovery of mobile phones from them. The FIR has been registered on complaint of assistant jail superintendent. The last communication the police received from the jail about a seizure was in January, an official said.

Jail superintendent Sukhwinder Singh Sahota said the mobile phones were recovered in the past four months from the inmates and they had written to the police immediately after the seizures. Though jail and police officials remained tightlipped over the number of mobiles recovered, sources said eight were seized from the accused.

A mobile phone SIM was recovered from notorious gangster Ramandeep Singh “Rummy” Machhana and another inmate in the jail on Saturday and a case in this connection was registered soon after.

Bathinda SSP Navin Singla said a case should have been registered immediately after a communication was received from the jail authorities. The case was lodged after the jail authorities sent a reminder after which a collective FIR was registered. He said it is being checked as who was responsible for the delay.

On Tuesday, 47 gm intoxicant powder was recovered from a convict Balwinder Singh of Jalandhar at the jail gate during a checking.

The convict returned after attending a court hearing in Jalandhar. The powder was hidden in his underwear. A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered.