CHENNAI: Officials conducted
surprise checks in
Puzhal Central Prison here on Thursday and seized 29 television sets, 28 radios, four pressure cookers, 200kg of basmati rice, 50kg of dal, 75kg of maida flour and 60 litres of cooking oil and cots from several cells. The raid started on Thursday evening and ended late in the night.
This was the fifth raid in the cells after photographs of prisoner’s ‘personal’ life were leaked on September 14. Following the photo leak, prison officials conducted surprise checks in Prison-1 and Prison-2 and seized 18
TV sets from A Class wards. Inmates were found using USB ports to charge mobile phones.
Thursday’s raid in the convicts’ prison was carried out by a team led by prison DIG Murugesan and new superintendent Senthil Kumar.
Sources said some prisoners who got special permission to use cots in their cells. These cots were being used by other prisoners since they had not been returned after those who had been originally using them left the jail. The prison officials were checking if the warders and other prison staffs had been renting the cots out to the prisoners.
Prison officials said there was nothing wrong about certain inmates enjoying differential treatment. "It's not illegal for ‘A’ class prisoners to get their own mattresses," the officer said.
The Puzhal Central Jail, which has a 212-acre campus, can accommodate up to 3,000 prisoners. It is considered one of the most modern prisons in the country.
The Puzhal Central Prison has lately been in the eye of a storm, with a warder being suspended for allegedly smuggling marijuana into the jail.
