The city police on Tuesday registered a case under Rule 42 of the Prisoners Act against three convicts at Coimbatore Central Prison for their suspected involvement in the smuggling of a parcel containing banned items into the prison.
The prison administration placed three grade II warders under suspension.
The parcel was flung into the prison on Monday night.
The three prisoners who collected the parcel and ran into the block were identified as Ibrahim (34) of Masjid Colony at Ukkadam, who was sentenced in cases relating to a murder in 1997 and a case of manufacturing explosives; Hakkim (32) of Vincent Road at Ukkadam, serving time for a murder in 1998; and Anwar (30) of LMN Street at Kottaimedu, sentenced in a case of murder that took place in Nagore in 1996 besides explosives case. Inspector T.H. Ganesh said that the police would obtain permission from the Magistrate for entering the prison to conduct inquiries.
The prison administration had identified three Grade II warders, who allegedly conspired and prepared a plan for smuggling the items into the prison. One of them packed the materials and threw it into the prison compound.
Superintendent of Coimbatore Central Prison A. Murugesan said that an inquiry indicated that the warders R. Dinesh, R. Gnanansekaran and P. Sivamurthy had a role in the smuggling of the parcel into the prison.
The activities of the three warders — one of them sought a change of shift and the other two chose to stay at a different place on Monday – created suspicion, he said.
Mr. Murugesan said that stringent departmental action was being initiated.