Alcohol, biryani in Bhanu Kiran jail cell
Jail official says food was seized at gate
Hyderabad: Food and alcohol were apparently seized from Bhanu Kiran, the prime accused in the Maddelacheruvu Suri murder case, who is lodged at the Cherlapalli prison here on Wednesday. But prisons deputy inspector-general M. Chandrasekhar who is currently the in charge of the prison as jail superintendent K.L. Srinivas is on leave denied any such incident. He said that a visitor who came to see Bhanu Kiran during a meeting had brought biryani and alcohol, but they were seized at the main entrance.
“We did not allow the food and the drinks inside the premises. We always check visitors before they are allowed inside to meet prisoners,” he said.
Recently, some jail officials seized biryani packets, liquor and cellphones from prisoners. Inspector-general of prisons T. Krishna Raju conducted a surprise check at the jail and looked into the matter.
Despite all these efforts prison sources alleged that some jail officials were allowing illegal eatables. When contacted, prisons director-general B. Sunil Kumar said the issue had not been brought to his notice.
Sources from the prison informed that one of the three deputy superintendents, Santosh Roy, had been transferred to Sangareddy as he was opposing these activities.
“He tried to expose these things and instead of correcting the mistakes, the authorities immediately transferred him,” the source said, adding, “It is a fact that these outside articles are brought in every day. One deputy superintendent is facilitating this, and corruption is very rampant. Jail superintendent K L Srinivas is on leave and this corrupt officer was made the in-charge. But on Wednesday evening, M. Chandrashekar, deputy inspector-general, prisons, Telangana range was made the in-charge. The deputy inspector-general is very sincere, but despite all his efforts, such activities are still going on in the prison.”
The sources also recommended that there must be different cells and administration for remand and convicted prisoners.
“Since the topography of the jail is too complex, a single administration cannot take care of it. This jail has both remand and convicted prisoners together and it is difficult to control them. They must be held in different areas so that there is more control. And all corrupt officers should be transferred as there is no action despite many complaints.”