Five officials suspended after 117 phones recovered from Delhi jails

The Prisons department in Delhi has suspended two deputy superintendents, one assistant superintendent, one head warder and one warder following the recovery of mobile phones from Mandoli jail, officials said on Friday.

Five jail officials -- Deputy Superintendents Pradeep Sharma and Dharmender Maurya, Assistant Superintendent Sunny Chandra, Head Warder Lokesh Dhama and Warder Hansraj Meena -- were suspended following the recovery of mobile phones from Mandoli jail, according to prison officials.

Director-General (Prisons) Sanjay Baniwal has directed all jail superintendents to form search teams and detect mobile phones and other prohibited articles in their prisons, they said.

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In the last fortnight, 117 mobile phones were recovered by members of jail staff during search operations conducted in all prisons. These seizures will continue in the future, the officials added.

Baniwal had constituted a special vigilance team at Prison Headquarters for a major crackdown on the smuggling of communication gadgets into jails.

The team, along with 104 Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel, conducted a raid on December 18, leading to the recovery of eight mobile phones.