Bengaluru Central Prison, which has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons over the last fortnight, was abuzz on Thursday after newly appointed Additional Director-General of Prisons N.S. Megharikh visited the prison for the first time since he assumed the post, and received a guard of honour.
Hours later, the government issued an order transferring Superintendent of the prison Anitha Rai to Dharwad prison. P.S. Ramesh, who was serving as Superintendent of the Dharwad prison, will replace Ms. Rai.
Incidentally, the transfer order was issued a day after the special team led by retired IAS officer Vinay Kumar inspected the Bengaluru prison. The team, appointed by the Chief Minister, is probing into the former Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Prisons) D. Roopa’ allegations of irregularities in the prison and an alleged cash-for-comfort scandal where ₹2 crore was accepted by prison officials in exchange for awarding preferential treatment to AIADMK leader V.K. Sasikala and other high-profile inmates. Chief Superintendent of Police (Prisons) Krishna Kumar, who was also shunted out of the prison without a posting, has now been transferred to Kalaburagi prison, replacing his counterpart Somashekhar.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Megharikh met the prison staff while taking stock of the situation. He inspected the prison and reportedly spoke to inmates before returning to his office.
‘Model prison’
Mr. Megharikh said he would extend full cooperation to the special team conducting the investigation. “I am planning to make the Parappana Agrahara prison into a model prison.”
He said he did not find any irregularities and that he had directed the officials to follow the prison manual strictly while dealing with inmates and their visitors.
