Tennis balls with cells, sims and drugs lobbed inside Central jail in Nagpur

NAGPUR: The security of Central Jail has been compromised by broken boundary walls at many places, from where racketeers are known to throw in tennis balls stuffed with narcotics, mobile handsets, sim cards, and batteries, and other contraband material for inmates.
An elaborate ₹35 crore proposal was submitted by the Nagpur Central Jail authorities to the government to strengthen the boundary and periphery walls in 2015, but there has been no development till date. Contraband material like ganja, mobile handsets, SIM and batteries have been found inside the jail quite a few times. Despite numerous searches and checks, prohibited material continues to be available inside the jail, said sources.

After the jail authorities stepped up vigilance and searches at the entrance, racketeers are now mostly using the gaps in the dilapidated boundary walls to reach the periphery of the jail and lob in tennis balls with the prohibited material.
“The tennis balls are cut open. The narcotics, small mobile phone handsets, sim cards, batteries and such things are tucked in, and then the joints are sealed with strong adhesive. The balls are then wrapped with tape and lobbed across the periphery wall,” said a source, adding every supplier and receiver has his own time.
“If a ball is thrown inside at 2.30am then it’s for a specific person. Those who are expecting supply at 4.30am will not touch it. This all goes on with the consent of some jail guards or sentries, while Dhantoli police avoid patrolling the area at certain times,” said the source.
Sources said the jail watch towers mostly remain vacant, making it easy for smuggling of contraband. Jail authorities have even started drone surveillance to fight this menace, but it has remained a measure adopted for namesake.
A trip around the Nagpur Central Jail by TOI reveals that the outer boundary walls are non-existent at some places, like in the stretch between Ajni Station Square and Kriplani turning. There are gaps in the makeshift fencing used to bridge the distance between stretches of the outer wall.
Surveillance from Dhantoli police station patrolling staff too seems to be mostly absent from this sensitive location. In at least one instance, a youth planning to throw in a tennis ball stuffed with drugs died in a road accident just outside the jail wall.
It’s also learnt that Mahametro did not complete the boundary wall it broke at many places while building the Metro line. “Mahametro also did not install the view-cutters, which allows Metro passengers a clear view inside the jail while passing the area,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
Apart from racketeers sending prohibited materials inside, it’s also learnt that jail’s vegetables too get stolen from their own fields by passers-by due to the broken boundary walls.
Jail SP Anup Kumar Kumre said the Central Jail is likely to be shifted elsewhere, but his office had been pursuing the proposal to erect a sturdy boundary wall, which is needed for better security.
“We had identified a few vulnerable points on Chunabhatti side, from where such lobbing of cricket balls with contraband had taken place in the past, but security has been beefed up on such stretches,” said Kumre.