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Bhubaneswar: After gangster brothers- Sushant and Sushil Dhalsamant, notorious criminal Shakil seems to have been using ‘women associates’ to operate his crime syndicate from the confines of the Choudwar jail.
The arrest of Shakil’s girlfriend yesterday has exposed the dirty pattern that the criminals have been adopting to cock a snook at police. What is surprising is the fact that Shakil’s girlfriend is a law student and was handling the crime syndicate for the last couple of months, sources said.
According to reports, Shakil’s girlfriend Sonam (name changed) was allegedly looking after the entire extortion and illegal firearms racket since the former’s arrest in June last year.
As Shakil’s right-hand is also lodged in jail, it was the former’s girlfriend who was running the show. Sonam was frequently visiting Shakil at Choudwar jail and it is alleged that she was carrying out the necessary instructions from the criminal.
It is suspected that Shakil was also operating his crime syndicate by using a mobile phone from inside Choudwar jail. On December 12, 2019, a Buxi Bazar businessman, Suraj Agarwal allegedly received a video from Shakil which purportedly was an extortion demand.
Later, five persons including Shakil’s father were arrested in connection with the incident.
Many believe that criminals are taking advantage of the lapses in security measures inside jails to carry out several criminal activities.
Though there are 48 CCTV cameras at Choudwar jail, only five are reportedly working. Besides, the mobile phone jammers are also lying defunct, informed sources.
Cuttack DCP Akhileswar Singh, on the other hand, said that raids are conducted at Choudwar jails at regular intervals.
“We are also writing to jail authorities to strengthen security inside the prison,” said Singh.
Overcrowding of jails has also added to the woes of the authorities at Choudwar jail which has a capacity for 727 inmates, but at present, over 1000 inmates are lodged.
“We had conducted a raid and Shakil has been kept inside a cell. How can we say as it has not been proved yet,” said Jail DIG, Gopabandhu Mallick.
