The Coimbatore Central prison authorities on Wednesday evening conducted a raid for seven hours leading to seizure of eight mobile phones, three SIM cards and two chargers.
Prison superintendent D. Pazhani said the death of the convict was blown out of proportion by inmates who were in adverse notice and from whom the prison authorities seized mobile phones during the intensive raid.
Mr. Pazhani said that mobile phones were seized from seven convicts. A report on the seizure was sent to the office of Additional Director General Police (Prisons), Chennai and a complaint is to be lodged with the police soon. Irked by the search, a section of the infuriated inmates exploited the situation by triggering rumours turning Karuppasamy’s death as an incident of death in custody due to torture.
According to prison authorities, inmates spread rumours that prison staff killed two inmates by beating them and that few others were in a critical condition. This resulted in more than 600 inmates staging a protest. Some of them climbed trees and raised slogans. The protestors also skipped their breakfast at 7.30 a.m. only to be pacified later,” the Superintendent added.
In the news for wrong reasons
Of late, the prison has been in the news for the wrong reasons. It started with the leak of a seven-minute video of three inmates, allegedly kept in isolation and harassed. The video went viral in social media in mid-April. The DIG of Prisons (Vellore Range) V.H. Mohammed Haneefa conducted an inquiry. Prison officials termed it as the handwork of a few prison inmates with the connivance of some prison staff. A Chief Head Warden was placed under suspension, while three others were transferred.
Even as such allegations continued, remand prisoner ‘Shutter’ Venkatesan (46) attempted suicide and was transferred to Salem Central Prison in the first week of May. A few more prisoners made similar allegations and went to court and have been going on hunger strike on and off, alleging harassment.
Prison authorities pointed out that in most of these incidents inmates and their counsels targeted select prison warders and officers who tried to curtail use of mobile phones in prison and refused to be lenient to inmates who refused correction.
Convict’s death blown out of proportion by inmates: Prison Superintendent
