GUWAHATI: A major security breach was detected in the National Security Act (NSA) cell of Assam’s highly secured Dibrugarh Central Jail, where Khalistani sympathiser and Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh and nine of his associates are lodged.
During a search on Saturday, the jail staff recovered a smartphone with SIM, keypad phone, TV remote with keyboard, spy cam pen, pen drives, bluetooth headphone & speakers and smartwatch.
Director General of Police GP Singh said that the police had installed additional CCTV cameras in public area of the NSA Block upon receiving information about unauthorised activities taking place in the NSA cell.
“Inputs received, confirmed unauthorised activities,” he said adding the items recovered were seized by jail staff.
“…Source of these unauthorised articles and mode of induction are being ascertained. Further action is being taken and steps are being taken to prevent recurrence,” he wrote on X.
The 29-year-old Amritpal was arrested by Punjab Police under the stringent NSA in April last year, and transported to Assam in a special flight. The nine others with him in the jail – all of them NSA detainees – were arrested weeks after his arrest.
Earlier, the entire jail complex was kept out of bounds of the general public. Several high-mast lights were installed while there was round the clock CCTV surveillance.
Built in 1857, the Dibrugarh Central Jail is Assam’s second oldest prison.