On Sunday, a visitor, the wife of a convict at Hindalga jail in Belagavi, left a bag of groundnuts and sweets at the gate, asking the guard to give it to her husband.
One of the guards, who dipped into the bag of goodies and bit into a groundnut shell, was shocked to find tiny black balls in place of the peanuts. He broke open a few more to discover they were all filled with ganja fibres.
Jail Superintendent T.P. Shesha has ordered an inquiry into the incident. He said this is an example of how convicts and their supporters try to carry out irregularities. He said he would approach the city police if required.
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Interestingly, the police officers have different views about this case. An officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in the high security prison, rubbished it as “a small incident” and also claimed that it had happened two months ago, but was being discussed now in the light of DIG (Prisons) D. Roopa’s report on corruption in the Bengaluru prison.
The city police will work with jail authorities on such cases if officials concerned register a complaint or send a formal request for joint investigation, Police Commissioner T.G. Krishna Bhat said. As of Friday, jail officials had not lodged any complaint, he added.