Mobile phones, Wi-Fi equipment, cash seized from American Centre attack convict's prison cell in Kolkata

Three mobile phones, Wi-Fi equipment and Rs 31,000 in cash were recovered from Aftab Ahmed Ansari's cell number 14 at the correctional home. Ansari is the mastermind of the 2002 American Centre attack in Kolkata, serving a life term, officials said on Saturday.

In 2002, five people, including police constables, died and 20 others were injured when two motorbike-borne gunmen opened fire on the American Centre security staff on January 22.

The seizure at the Presidency Correctional Home prompted the jail authorities to lodge a complaint with the Hastings Police Station, which has registered a case and begun an investigation, they said.

An official of the correctional home told PTI that a search was conducted following intelligence inputs that Ansari was allegedly using a mobile phone inside the prison and had access to the internet.

"Three mobile phones were found in his clothes and bedding, while two routers, a Wi-Fi device, a pen drive and an earphone were also seized," he said.

Cash amounting to Rs 31,000 in the denomination of Rs 500 was found in his cell, too, the official said.

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An official of the correctional home told PTI that a search was conducted following intelligence inputs that Ansari was allegedly using a mobile phone inside the prison and had access to the internet.

"Three mobile phones were found in his clothes and bedding, while two routers, a Wi-Fi device, a pen drive and an earphone were also seized," he said.

Cash amounting to Rs 31,000 in the denomination of Rs 500 was found in his cell, too, the official said.

Investigators are also trying to ascertain whether phone calls were made to Ansari's contacts outside the country, he said.

The development comes months after the West Bengal government suspended the superintendent and the chief controller of Presidency Correctional Home, following allegations that inmates were using mobile phones inside the facility.

Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat 'Nabanna' on May 15, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had said that mobile phones, including smartphones, were being extensively used inside Presidency Correctional Home and that a section of jail officials was involved in this.

Adhikari had said 23 mobile phones were seized from the jail premises during joint operations involving prison authorities and the Kolkata Police.

"The entire criminal network across the state is being operated from prisons. This is not something that has started today. It has continued for years. There is deep-rooted corruption. It will take time to dismantle it," the CM said.

He had also ordered a CID investigation to trace how SIM cards and mobile phones entered jail premises.

With inputs from PTI

Cellphones seized in central prison, three staffers suspended