Bihar: Out of fear, prisoner swallows mobile phone during inspection

Gopalganj (Bihar): A prisoner at Bihar's Gopalganj district jail swallowed a mobile phone during inspection, fearing that the gadget may be discovered by prison officers, an official said on Monday.

Qaishar Ali, the prisoner, swallowed the phone on Saturday during jail inspection.

The matter, however, came to light on Sunday after Ali developed extreme pain in his stomach.

"The prisoner informed the jail authorities and narrated the sequence of events. He was immediately rushed to Gopalganj district hospital," Manoj Kumar, Gopalganj jail superintendent told PTI on Monday. Use of cellphones by inmates is banned in the country's prisons.

Salam Siddiqui, the doctor at the hospital's emergency ward said, "The prisoner was admitted in the hospital due to stomach pain. The x-ray of his stomach was taken and the presence of foreign particle was visible during the examination. There is a need to investigate it thoroughly".

A medical board was constituted by the hospital and the man was referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital for further treatment. The "foreign particle" or mobile phone will now be removed by the Patna Medical College.

Ali was arrested by Gopalganj police on January 17, 2020 under provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act). He has been in jail for the last three years.

Use of mobile phone by inmates inside Bihar prisons has raised eyebrows over security officers' credentials. Around 35 cellphones, seven sim cards and 17 cellphone chargers were seized during raids conducted in jails across the state in March 2021. The raids were conducted on Katihar, Buxar, Gopalganj, Nalanda, Hajipur, Ara, Jehanabad and some other jails in the state.