Punjab jail superintendent arrested for corruption

The Punjab State Vigilance Bureau on Thursday arrested the Mansa district Jail Superintendent Davinder Singh Bajwa in a corruption case from the jail premises.

"The accused jailer, in connivance with jail officers Gurjeet Singh Brar, Sikander Singh Mann and prisoner Pawan Kumar, were collecting money from prisoners to the tune of Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 in lieu of changing their barracks/cells at their sweet will, allowing to use cell phones, intoxicants/drugs and meetings of their relatives without making entry to the jail register and giving relaxation from the manual work inside the jail," an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said here.

In this case the VB had already nabbed Jail Line Officer Sikander Singh Mann and prisoner Pawan Kumar, incharge of the jail canteen, red handed in December 2017.

The fourth accused deputy jail superintendent Gurjeet Singh Brar is still at large. The spokesman said that during investigation of the accused, the bureau has recovered a register having details of money collected from the prisoners and was maintained by the accused prisoner Pawan Kumar at the behest of the deputy jail superintendent.

"Accused Pawan Kumar has confessed that he was sharing the money with the jail officials," the spokesman said.

Jails in Punjab are notorious for availability of drugs, illegal use of mobile phones and smartphones for social media and misuse of other facilities.

--IANS

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