NAVIN JHA
VASCO: The Sada jail in Mormugao isn’t yet listed as one of Goa’s hip night clubs or places to celebrate birthday parties. At least not yet. But for Shiv Kumar Husmat, arrested for the murder of Viresh Hiramat at Chicolna-Bogmalo, that was no deterrent. Sometime in April, he threw a grand 22nd birthday party in Cell Number 5 of the Sada jail where the food was top class, the liquor flowed and the happy moments were captured by several android phones of inmates. And yes everything was paid for, in cash, the money collected from ‘friends’, during visits to the court or for medical check-ups, in the full presence of the escort police.
Herald, during a ten day investigation of keeping watch, spoke to several sources including former inmates very recently out of jail, and a key friend of Shiv Kumar Husmat who is in touch with him. This key friend regularly receives selfies and Whats App messages from Husmat. Through these conversations and looking at material available on phones, we pieced together the exact modus operandi of how these operations of smuggling drugs, alcohol, food and cell phones are executed.
The project first kicked off, when we learnt that fresh Whats App pictures of murder accused Husmat’s grand birthday bash had been sent from a 3G enabled smart phone with mobile number 8975205227 to his special friend, who too has had a brush with law and order often. This number is listed or saved in the name of Malikarjun2 NEW. He is, in all likelihood, Malikarjun Yellagurduppa Idagi, a co-accused in the same murder case and is in Sada sub-jail with Husmat. (See box on how Herald found this out)
The pictures (as you can see below) are of Husmat along with his jail buddies posing like film stars and models, while these were taken during the birthday bash in Cell Number 5. “My friend (Husmat) recently celebrated his birthday party inside the jail. He contacted me over the phone to lend some money, which I did when he came out of jail along with some escort police. He later told me that his party inside cell number five was a blast”, said his special friend.
But all this doesn’t surprise one member of the Escort police, under whose watch inmates regularly escape from custody. “Why only Shiv Kumar, most of the inmates who can afford to pay jail guards on duty are using such facilities. It’s either through muscle power or money power that one gets all facilities inside the jail” said an escort police official of the Goa Reserve Battalion on condition of anonymity.
Herald through sources developed during the investigation, including those who have just served jail time there, learnt that few prisoners have opened up multiple Id’s on social media and are now using this system for multiple needs. ‘From giving threats to witnesses not to provide crucial information, to being in touch with informants, friends and gang members, the undisrupted mobile phone inside the jail is a matter of grave concern but not for the jail authorities who are allegedly facilitating such an act” said a Chicalim local who was lodged at this jail for 3 months and has seen everything.
So how does it all work? How do inmates get money to make purchases they order? Check this out. They are “home delivered’. One has to just place an order with the jail guards – drugs, or alcohol, or even tobacco – and it’s executed after sunset, except drugs, which has a 24-hour turnaround from the time jail guards receive the ‘order’
The main source of money is through visitors who hand over cash in the presence of jail guards who turn a blind eye merely because they know that the cash will finally land up in their kitty once the inmate places an ‘order’ for alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and so on. These get done at night, when the manned security system virtually collapses and the great smuggling of goods takes place.
“For Gold Flake cigarettes we paid Rs 300 as against their price of Rs 100. Similarly for other tobacco products which cost Rs15 outside one has to pay Rs 100” sources told Herald. Well there is a complete price list (read the box ) that one has to orally understand before placing a demand for delivery straight to your cell.
Officially there was a proposal to install mobile jammers inside the jail, but why the same was not implemented is not a trade secret. The great trade of smuggling in drugs, liquor, phones and a lot else will be jammed if there are mobile jammers, and this will not just affect prisoners like Shiv Kumar Husmat but the tribe of jail guards, escort police and even their higher officials. After all, the party doesn’t happen only in Cell Number 5. It happens in the entire Sada sub jail and beyond.
