In an early morning raid by the Commissionerate Police and Cuttack district administration on the Choudwar jail on Saturday, objectionable items like cell phone sim cards, cigarettes, bidis, opium and ganja were recovered from inside the jail premises. Even gold jewelleries of 185 grams, worth over Rs five lakh were also found in possession of jail inmates.
The raid was a follow-up of an investigation after the Commissionerate Police were convinced that criminals lodged inside the jail are making extortion calls to businessmen over mobile phones. But the police on the day could not recover a single mobile phone from the cells of the jail, although few sim cards were found lying among garbage.
“Phone call detail records and mobile tracking have clearly indicated that the calls were made from the jail premises”, said a senior city police officer asserting that the jail inmates have access to cell phones. He said stringent action should be taken against the persons who are helping the prisoners to have access to mobile phones.