PANJIM: In yet another embarrassing incident, a jail guard was on Thursday caught smuggling tobacco inside the Colvale Central Jail.
The Prisons Department has however taken quick action and suspended Vilas Naik pending departmental inquiry.
“During the frisking by Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB), jail guard Vilas Naik was caught hiding the tobacco packets in his shoes. The IRB submitted a report to us by evening and we have suspended him,” Inspector General of Prisons Rajendra Mirajkar told Herald after issuing the jail guard’s suspension order on Friday morning.
Similar incidents have taken place in the state-of-the-art jail in the past. Alert IRB personnel had caught jail guard Yashant Dessai and head guard Pradeep Kambli trying to sneak in with a liquor bottle and 20 packets of tobacco in September.
Dessai, whose appearance looked suspicious, had hidden a 90 ml liquor bottle in his tiffin, while Kambli had hidden the 20 packets of tobacco in his underwear.
“Dessai had hidden the liquor bottle in his lunch box. It was covered with cooked rice to avoid suspicion, whereas Kambli tried to smuggle tobacco hiding it in his underwear. Both were caught red-handed,” the IGP had said.
As a part of their daily exercise, the IRB personnel who are posted outside the jail frisk the visitors as well as the staff.
