Hyderabad, October 30: A Dawood Ibrahim gangster lodged in the Cherlapally prison is reportedly continuing his activities by way of a mobile phone smuggled to him.
Syed Abid Hussain alias Ali Bhai is said to be in touch with his associates across the country and as far as Dubai from inside the high-security jail.
And this is not the first time he has been found using a mobile phone. Prison department officials are, however, denying the discovery.
Sources told Express that Ali Bhai, lodged in the Godavari barracks in Cherlapally prison, has been in touch with his associates across the country and in Dubai, from where he used to run his operations before being arrested in March 2007.
Ali Bhai is an accused in the sensational kidnapping cases of Sumedha of Jubilee Hills, apart from several offences elsewhere including Pune and Mumbai. After the police rescued Sumedha, from whose parents Ali demanded a ransom of Rs 5 crore and wanted it delivered by the hawala route, he fled to Dubai on a fake passport.
Even while in jail, he reportedly planned to kidnap Country Club chairman Y Rajeev Reddy and hatched a plan to steal the case documents and fake currency from the Nampally Criminal Courts in order to erase evidence of the Rs 2 crore fake notes seized on August 25, 2007, the day twin bomb blasts rocked the city. Police sources said Ali Bhai was also reportedly in touch with terror outfits including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
Last year, Ali Bhai contacted some persons in Dubai, believed to be LeT members, from inside the jail. This came to light after police arrested two of his close associates Muhammed Dawood Zakir and Mohammed Rayees, who, on Ali Bhai’s instructions, were to steal the documents and fake currency from the court.
”Last year, Zakir smuggled a mobile phone into the prison for Ali Bhai,’’ sources said.
Sources said jail inmates who want to use mobile phones take prison staff into confidence. They give a missed call to the mobile phone of the person they want to talk to, who in turn calls back, mostly from a public telephone booth. They also bribe constables to purchase recharge coupons.
When contacted, director-general, prisons, C N Gopinatha Reddy said it is a misapprehension that mobile phones are available within the jail premises. ”A lot of searches are made in prison and there is no way prisoners can get access to phones,’’ he said.
Asked whether a phone was found with Ali Bhai, he said he was not aware but added that in case it has been found, an enquiry would be ordered.
He said the prisons department is soon launching a telephone facility in prison. Prisoners can make eight calls in a month for which they have to pay.
–Agencies