BENGALURU: Bengaluru Central Prison authorities are again in the dock after photographs and videos of inmates using mobile phones and receiving preferential treatment went viral.
This time, the photos and videos allegedly show suspected terror operative Zuhab Hameed Shakeel Manna and convicted serial rapist and killer Umesh Reddy using mobile phones and watching TV inside the prison.
In the video, Umesh Reddy is seen wearing coloured clothes and using a mobile phone inside his cell, while he is expected to wear prison-issued clothes as he is a convict. There is definitely no provision for him to use the mobile phone. He was also allegedly allowed to cook for himself.
Shakeel Manna, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency for allegedly helping raise funds and radicalise Muslim youth, is also seen using a mobile phone in the viral clips.
It is alleged that actor Tarun Kondaraja, an undertrial arrested in a gold smuggling case, too received special treatment when he was in the prison. Tarun was in the prison for nearly a year, and his use of mobile phones during custody is now under scrutiny.
Among the 12 videos circulating on social media, four were reportedly shot in 2022.
This newspaper tried to contact Additional Director General of Police (Prisons) B Dayananda, but he was not available for comment. Other senior prison officials, however, said he has ordered a probe into the viral photos and videos.
Recently, a video of rowdy-sheeter Srinivasa alias Gubbachhi Seena, lodged in the prison in connection with a murder, celebrating his birthday inside the jail had also gone viral. Disciplinary action had been initiated against six prison staff initiated after that incident. In the last two months, two jail wardens have been arrested for allegedly supplying drugs and mobile phones to inmates.
The Supreme Court, too, had slammed the Bengaluru Central Prison authorities for allegedly giving preferential treatment to actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is in prison in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case.