The Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: file photo A raid by the city police on the Central Prison Complex at Parappana Agrahara on Sunday led to the seizure of 15 mobile phones, chargers, knives, cash, drugs and various other goods.This comes two weeks after nine prison officials, including the chief superintendent, were suspended and a new set of officials posted over preferential treatment given to actor Darshan and other rowdy sheeters in the jail. Home Minister G. Parameshwara had promised that the security at the prison would be overhauled.However, this had not put a stop to the irregularities inside the prison. A few days ago, a visitor who had come to meet an undertrial was caught red-handed trying to smuggle 46 gm of MDMA. Another inmate had recently ransacked a room in the prison and behaving violently, raising suspicion that he was under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics. Alarmed by this, the southeast division police, probing the alleged irregularities at the prison, conducted the raid in the morning. Barracks including those housing rowdy sheeters Wilson Garden Naga and others seen with Darshan were searched and goods recovered, sources said. The seized electronic gadgets and mobile phones are being verified and prison officials in charge of the security would also be questioned, a senior city police official said.“There is a very strong network of prison officials and the inmates which has become almost impossible to break. Two weeks after the recent fiasco, all prohibited items are available with the inmates,” a senior official said.This only shows that despite heightened security measures, CCTV surveillance and the Tower-Harmonic Call Blocking System (T-HCBS), mobile phone use continues inside the prison complex. Apart from mobile phones, chargers, and other electronic gadgets the police also confiscated tobacco products, a small amount of narcotics, knives and ₹36,000 in cash from different barracks during the searches.It can be recalled that during a similar raid on the prison on August 24, sleuths from the Central Crime Branch failed to find any illegal goods to only later realise that prison officials had been tipped off about the plan and all goods had been shifted from cells hours before the operation.The next day a photograph and a recording of a video call of Darshan went viral, putting the spotlight on irregularities inside the prison complex. Published – September 15, 2024 09:53 pm IST