The two employees were part of the local checking squad of Amreli District Jail. (Representational)Two jail assistants of Amreli District Jail were among six persons arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the alleged racket facilitating phone calls from inside the jail for a fee. With this, the number of arrests in the case have gone up to 12. The SIT headed by RK Karamta, incharge inspector of the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Amreli district police, arrested jail assistants Jayraj Manjariya (30) and Surendra Varu (30) on Sunday for their alleged involvement in the crime.
“During investigation, it came to light that employees of Amreli District Jail were supplying mobile phones and SIM cards to prisoners,” a release from Amreli police said.
The release added that Naresh alias Narshi Vaghela, a prisoner who was earlier arrested in connection with the crime, used to collect money from relatives of prisoners lodged in the jail in for facilitating mobile phone calls for such prisoners. They would then hand over the collected amount to the two jail assistants.
“The two employees were part of the local checking squad of Amreli District Jail. But they would merely complete the formality of conducting checking of barracks. Even if mobile phones would be found in possession of prisoners, the duo would not take any action,” the release added.
Four others arrested are Kanti Vala of Savarkundla town of Amreli district, Suresh alias Sardul Hadgarda of Nagdhra village of Dhari taluka of Amreli district, Shailesh Chandu of Dolti village of Savarkundla taluka of Amreli and Irfan alias Talki Khimani of Amreli town. Police said Vala is facing three cases, including one of murder, while Chandu is facing cases of triple murder, attempt to murder, robbery, etc. Talki is facing cases of forging documents, and Hadgarda is facing six cases, including those of attempt to murder, rape, cheating, etc.