Bengaluru, 29 Mar

Three prison officials have been suspended in connection with videos allegedly recorded and released by under-trial prisoners from inside Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, officials said on Sunday.

In the videos that were released by a news portal, the prisoners purportedly targeted the Director General of Police (Prisons), Alok Kumar. The prisoners were heard making claims about access to mobile phones, remarks about an upcoming IPL match in Bengaluru, and allegations that phones were provided by senior officials, they added.

The prison department denied the claims of officials providing mobile phones.

Following the development, jail warders Niranjan Kamath, Hanumantappa Hadpad and Shivanand Karlabatti were suspended by DGP (Prisons) Alok Kumar, the officials said.

"Three warders, Niranjan Kamath, Hanumantappa Hadpad and Shivanand Karlabatti are being placed under suspension for dereliction of duty," Alok Kumar told PTI.

Action has been initiated against the Jailer who was allegedly on supervisory duty at the time of the video recording.

Detailing the sequence of events, he said three video clippings were released from Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in a local news portal around 9 am on Saturday.

"One of our media friends shared those clippings with me. Chief Superintendent Anshu Kumar, and his team found out the mischief mongers and seized the mobile phones which were hidden inside the pipe in the toilet chamber."

According to Alok Kumar, the main accused in the case are the prisoners Darshan and Abhi, linked to the Hennur Bande murder case, while the voice in the clips was identified as that of Zypsin Daniel, another prisoner.

"To derail the process of reform, these prisoners deliberately shared the clippings with the media to bring a bad name and to demoralise the top hierarchy of the Prison and Correctional Services department," he said.

A complaint has been filed at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison Police Station against the accused.

The DGP further said action has been initiated against staff on duty during the night of 27 March and the morning of 28 March.

He also flagged the issue of mobile connectivity inside the prison.

"Presence of Airtel signal has been found in some parts of the prison. We are issuing a warning to them to take adequate measures to rectify the issue," he said.

"The process of reforms in the Prison and Correctional Services department will go on despite a few vested interests trying to subvert the process. Our team of officers and men have been working very hard to implement the proposed changes," Alok Kumar added.