The Punjab Police have arrested 11 persons for operating a drug peddling network inside the Ferozepur jail. Those arrested include four former jail staff members, two serving jail staff members and four drug smugglers. The identity of one of the arrested jail staff members could not be ascertained.

An extensive investigation revealed that the group had also been involved in supplying mobile phones inside the Ferozepur jail. Over 40,000 calls were traced back to three of the drug smugglers following which the police acted swiftly and detained them.

A squad headed by AIG J Elanchezhian dismantled the network run by the 11 arrested persons.

The arrested four former jail staff members have been identified as retired head warder Surjeet Singh, retired head warder Balkar Singh, retired warder Naib Singh and retired assistant superintendent Nirpal Singh. The serving jail staff members have been identified as warder Nachhatar Singh (Malerkotla jail) and assistant superintendent Gurtej Singh (Faridkot jail).

They assisted prisoners in using cell phones inside the jail and took no action when the prisoners’ phones were found. In place of cash, they also supported the sale and use of drugs inside the facility.

The smugglers involved in this case have been identified as Gaurav Dhingra, Gourav alias Gora, Inderjit aka Indri and Gurwinder Singh aka Cylinder. Gaurav Dhingra, who runs a mobile shop at Delhi Gate, Jail Road, Ferozepur, received money in his account from sale of drugs.

Accused Neeru Bala and Geetanjali, who were previously booked in the case, received the proceeds of the drug sales within the jail via UPI, such as Google Pay and Paytm, into their accounts. Investigations revealed that the jail authorities and the convicts worked in tandem, enabling the latter to access and use cell phones inside the confines of the jail.

No formal complaints were lodged when cell phones were discovered inside the jail. The convicts used to sell drugs like opium and heroin and the authorities overlooked these illegal activities.

The investigating team is looking into the calls made from the jail as well as the bank details where the drug money was parked.

Out of the over 40,000 calls made by smugglers from within the jail, about 38,850 originated from Raj Kumar’s phone in a single month (March 1 to March 31, 2019). This indicates that the phone was virtually used non-stop.

Between October 9, 2021, and February 14, 2023, the remaining 4,582 phone calls were made. After being questioned by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the use of phones inside the jail, the police launched an investigation on December 22 last year.