Gangsters lodged in Jharkhand’s Ranchi, Dhanbad, and Hazaribagh jails are still operating with impunity through cellphones, as per a shocking revelation made in a technical inquiry report submitted to the government.

The Technical Cell of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has found that more than 150 mobile SIMs are active inside Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar, Ranchi. The police has submitted a detailed report to the state government along with the SIM card numbers, WhatsApp numbers, IEMEI numbers and virtual numbers of the connections which are active inside the jail.

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Just a month ago, a technical probe had confirmed the constant threat calls being made to doctors and businessmen by notorious gangsters from Mandal Kara jail in Dhanbad. Jailer Amar Tiwari was suspended, while departmental inquiry was initiated against Jail Superintendent Ajay Kumar.

Similarly, during an investigation in a criminal case, Delhi Police found that at least six gangsters lodged in JP Central Jail in Hazaribagh were using mobile phones to give instructions to gang members in Delhi. Delhi Police recently wrote to Jharkhand Police asking them to take action. Then, IG, Jails, Manoj Kumar recommended that the state government take action against the Superintendent of JP Central Jail, Hazaribagh, Kumar Chandrashekhar.

Out of these three jails, the most shocking case is of Birsa Munda Central Jail. Based on strong evidence about the use of about 200 mobiles inside the jail, Ranchi’s Khelgaon police station in-charge, Manoj Kumar Mahato lodged an FIR on March 1, 2022.

The FIR said that the history-sheeters — Aman Sahu, Aman Singh, Sujit Sinha, Sheetal Mahto, Harikishore Prasad alias Kishore, Suraj Kumar Singh, Raju Singh, Hari Tiwari — who are inside the prison, used mobile phones to demand extortion and send messages to their gang members.

The FIR also made jail workers as accused. On the basis of this FIR, the police conducted a technical investigation and submitted a report to the government.

According to police sources, the report recommends strict action against the accused as well as the need to upgrade the jammer to block the mobile network inside the prison. At present, 2G jammer is installed in Ranchi Central Jail, but criminals are using 4G network.

During several raids in the past, mobile phones have been recovered from the prison.