Director Nipen Das of Dibrugarh Central Jail has been arrested.
Guwahati:
The warden of Dibrugarh Central Jail was arrested on Thursday night in connection with a major prison break-in last month in which several electronic devices were seized from inmates belonging to the separatist group Waris Punjabi De.
Separatist Amritpal Singh and nine of his associates have been lodged in the prison since last year.
Spy cameras, smartphones, keypad phones, pen drives, Bluetooth headphones and speakers, smart watches and several other items were recovered from the cell where they were kept last month.
Nipen Das, the warden of the prison, was arrested for violating the prison manual. Dibrugarh Superintendent of Police VV Rakesh Reddy said he was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), a strict anti-terrorism law, and the Assam Prisons Act.
“We recently found electronic devices in the cells of Amritpal Singh and his nine associates.During the investigation, we found sufficient evidence against Director Nipen Das of Dibrugarh Central Jail. “We have found prima facie evidence against it,” he said.
On April 23, 2023, Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police from the state’s Moga district after weeks of manhunt and taken to the Dibrugarh Central Jail.
The separatist was charged under the draconian National Security Act (NSA). Nine of his colleagues were also charged under the NSA.
Dibrugarh Jail was built between 1859 and 1860 and is one of the oldest and highest security prisons in the Northeast.