As they say, old habits die hard. That's why Bangalore Central jail's crooks and conmen are still getting rich, selling liquor and cigarettes, drugs and even mobile phones at a premium

Officials at Bangalore Central Jail have stumbled on a thriving business that provides inmates with banned items from cigarettes to liquor to drugs and even mobile phones.

The racket was thriving until last week when prison staff found people outside the prison's compound walls, moving around suspiciously.u00a0

Criminals are far ahead of us, says prison official

Their detention and subsequent frisking led to the unearthing of the racket.

Superintendent of prison, Vishwanathaiah, said security staff have detained around 10 so far. Most of them are relatives of the inmates and supply banned goods regularly.

Cigarettes, mobile phones and ganja are in high demand inside the prison and would be smuggled in every week, said an officer of the prison department.

u00a0Earlier, the banned goods would be hidden inside the food brought by relatives. But when officials curbed this, relatives would come and meet the inmates regularly and get the list of the items required. Once the goods are dumped at the designated place at a stipulated time, the inmates collect it and go on to sell it at a higher rate inside.

For instance, the 'businessman' allows other inmates to use the mobile phones for a few hundred rupees for a few minutes, officials said.

According to them, such rackets allow gangsters and criminals to carry out their criminal activities from inside the jail.

Previous cases

It may be recalled that Aparajith Bhasak, notorious conman and accused in a double murder case, was booked for calling prominent personalities from jail and seeking their help. He called the house of a High Court judge, the police commissioner's office and even the home minister's office.

u00a0In another case, Asish Malhotra alias Mohammed Nazran who had murdered his wife Brajlata Malhotra in front of their eight-year-old daughter in Bangalore, had called his father-in-law, Achuta Krishna Das, in Canada from prison. Nazran who was arrested, based on the statement of his daughter.

Checks and raids

Prison officials conduct regular checks and raids and confiscate banned goods but despite that, flow of goods continued unabated, said an officer, adding that it would be difficult to stop it altogether. The criminals are ahead of the police and will find some alternative arrangements to procure the goods, a prison official said.

Earlier, there were a few instances where sentries were involved in the racket. But this was stopped after the department cracked the whip on erring officers.

However, the involvement of prison staff could not be ruled out completely as it was very difficult to carry out such activities without their knowledge, said a police officer in Parappana Agrahara who is investigating the case.

Threat calls from central jail

Investigations into the threat call received by a journalist in Tumkur from a Naxal leader on Janiuary 10 was traced to Bangalore Central Jail.

The call was made to a journalist to warn the politicians of Pavagada region that they would be killed if the
Naxals were not paid as promised. The caller said that politicians had assured the Naxals Rs 3 crore per annum for various developmental activities after the elections, but nothing had happened so far. The caller also said that the Naxals would attack the police and the government officials if their demands were not met.

When the matter was reported to the police, they initiated investigations and traced the call to Ramakrishnappa, Organiser of Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) Dalam. Ramakrishnappa was arrested on charges of extorting money from a politician in Pavagada last year. Since then, he has been languishing in Parapana Agarahara, said officials.