300 mobile phones available for rent inside jail

BENGALURU: After videos of jail inmates enjoying luxurious lives were widely circulated, it is being said that about 300 mobile phones are being rented out inside the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail. .

Using a phone costs Rs 500 for half an hour and Rs 1,000 for an hour. It is alleged that the racket is being run using Bangladeshi sentenced prisoners. High‑level sources say that the jail officials themselves are involved in the scheme for money.

Some inmates are using mobiles illegally, but not everyone has a phone. There are many ‘VVIP’ prisoners in the jail, and for them the rates are fixed — 5minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour, or more than an hour — of phone talk.

The Bangladeshi sentenced prisoners get the phones after 7.30 am. They, in turn, give out the mobiles to those who need them, and then collect the money before taking back the devices.

Even if any officials try to raid the jail, information will leak from the main gate itself. It takes at least fifteen minutes to get inside, and by then all the mobiles are shifted to a safe place. There are allegations that the jail officials themselves are involved in this illegal money‑making scheme.