City anchor: Tihar inmate hides blade in tummy, uses it in attack

Undertrials lodged in Tihar Jail have been adopting new methods to hide surgical blades.

In a letter to DIG (Prisons) Tihar, the III Battalion of Delhi Armed Police has highlighted how an undertrial prisoner, involved in a scuffle with other inmates in a jail van, had hidden a surgical blade in his stomach, using a thread to hang it from a tooth.

The letter dated October 31 states that on October 18, the in-charge of jail van L-23, returning from a lock-up, heard screams as they reached NH 24 near Khichripur village. The van was brought back to the lock-up.

"It was found that a scuffle/bladebaazi had taken place among undertrial prisoners (UTPs). One injured UTP Kapur said... Harmeet Singh took out a surgical blade from his mouth... inflicted injuries on him and other UTPs," stated the letter by ACP Surender Kumar Verma, on behalf of DCP III Battalion, to the DIG (Prisons) Tihar.

An inquiry was ordered to find out how a blade reached an undertrial.

"The inquiry revealed that the blade was brought by Harmeet Singh from the central jail by hiding it in his stomach with the help of a thread which was engaged in the last tooth of his mouth... seems to be a new modus operandi of carrying surgical blade... without being detected... it is not possible to detect prohibited articles hidden in stomach by manual searching/frisking conducted by the DAP guard," the letter stated.

Tihar authorities were asked to "issue necessary directions to the jail staff about this new modus operandi of carrying surgical blades" to "avoid such type of incidents in future".

Asked about measures in place to stop smuggling of blades and other prohibited items, Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said: "We are in the process of procuring full-body scanners. Tenders have been floated and they are with the technical committee. Once these are installed, such items can be detected."

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