Nagpur: The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) on Thursday remanded five persons, including two prison constables, arrested for supplying ‘Ganja’ (Marijuana) to the inmates of Nagpur Central Jail, to police custody till December 5.
Facing charges under Sections 420, 465, 468,471 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 42 and 45 of the Prisons Act, accused Shrikant Chinga Mahadeorao Thorat (35), Gopi alias Gopal Purshottam Parale (30), Rahul alias Bhairav Pramod Mendhekar (28), prison constables Ajinkya Subhash Rathod (30) and Prashant Dagduji Rathod (55) were produced before the JMFC court.
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Tuesday 28 Jan. 2025
Seeking their police custody remand (PCR), the prosecution told the court that custodial interrogation of all the accused was necessary to find out whether any other person was involved in the racket. After hearing the grounds cited by the prosecution and the arguments of the defence, the court remanded the accused to five-day police custody.
Meanwhile, police would obtain a production warrant of cryptocurrency scam mastermind Nisedh Wasnik and Vaibhav Tandekar to take them into custody. Search for the fruit vendor, who too was involved in the racket, was on. Wasnik and Tandekar were allegedly communicating with the three goons on cell phone through the guards for money.
Meanwhile, a report in local Times of India daily said that the arrest of two jail guards and three goons following a city police probe that revealed use of cell phones by undertrials from barracks has led to departmental inquiry against Nagpur Central Jail officials. This is the second major episode of cell phone use in the jail coming to fore within the last couple of months. Earlier, batteries of cell phones and narcotics were intercepted at the jail gate. The prison department has begun an inquiry in the latest case.
According to the prison authorities, the government had thrice sent reports against the Nagpur officials for action. Senior officials also suggested the government a state-wide reshuffling of staff for efficient supervision in Nagpur jail which had seen several serious incidents.
