Court directs prison department to probe phone usage in central prison

Taking a strong exception to inmates in the central prison allegedly accessing mobile phones to issue threats to a witness in a murder case, the city civil and sessions court on Monday directed the Department of Prisons to probe in detail how phones were accessed inside the jail.

The Hindu in a report on October 12, ‘Rowdy sends threat messages to auto driver from jail’, wrote about a rowdy sheeter allegedly issuing a threat to a 22-year-old autorickshaw driver on his social media account from the central prison.

During a hearing of the murder case, the wife of Joseph Bali, who was the prime witness in the case, told the court that she was getting threats from the accused who allegedly killed her husband at a bank in Koramangala in 2021.

The accused allegedly threatened Armugam Magesh, a friend of the deceased and a witness to the incident, via a voice message threatening him with dire consequences if they deposed before the court.

The court pointed out lapses on part of the prison superintendent for allowing inmates access to phones. The court also directed investigating officials to provide necessary security cover to witnesses till the conclusion of the trial .

Joseph Babli, 35, a resident of Rajendranagar slum, was chased by men and hacked to death in front of his wife and minor daughter inside the bank in Koramangala.

The police arrested the accused and remanded them in judicial custody. “Since the evidence against the accused is strong, they are threatening witnesses to derail the trial,” a police officer said.

Fearing for his life, Magesh, an autorickshaw driver, stopped going to work, while his wife, who is also a witness, was finding it difficult to visit the court and depose. He alleged that several rowdies and goons would gather in the court hall to create a fear psychosis among the witnesses. When this was brought to the notice of the court, it directed the advocate representing the accused to issue necessary directions to refrain them from such activities.

CCB officials probing the case have taken the accused into custody for further investigation to ascertain how they accessed the phones and how are they using it despite high security and jammers.

Meanwhile, the prison officials continued to recover mobile phones from prison while conducting surprise checks. Assistant Superintendent of Prison Imamsab Myageri and his staff recovered phones with SIM cards and handed them over to Parappana Agarahara police on Monday.