‘PCO’ running out of Amreli jail busted, six arrested: Police

During the course of the investigation, the SIT found that 12 accused were providing a facility of making phone calls to those lodged in the Amreli district jail for a fee and arranging for forged medical certificates.

In a release, police said that six accused, who used mobile phones and allowed prisoners of other barracks to do the same for a fee, were arrested in this connection. The six have been identified as Kanti Vala, Shivraj alias Munna Vinchhiya, Shailesh Chandu, Balsinh Boricha, Sura Hadgarda and Irfan alias Talki Khimani. Police have also arrested Dr Dhiren Gheewala of Rajkot. Kanti Vala was producing forged medical certificates, provided by the doctor, for securing bail and was also helping other prisoners to do so, police said.

Police said that while Bala is lodged in jail in connection with murder of a police constable during Dalit protests in 2017, Vinchhiya, Chandu and Boricha are in judicial custody after being booked under the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act. Hadgarda is in jail after being arrested for alleged rape and murder and Khimani is facing a case under the Arms Act.

Police said the accused purchased SIM cards in their own names, in the names of their family members or on the basis of forged documents and would then send such cards and mobile phone handsets inside the jail. “The investigation has revealed that phone calls from Amreli district jail were not made to only people outside the jail, but to prisoners lodged in Surat district jail also,” said the release.

Police said six other accused — Kanti Vala, Hadgarda, Chandu, Dadu Chandu, Khimani and Bhupat Vaghela — are yet to be arrested.