Aftab Ansari
Kolkata: A multi-agency probe has been launched into a severe security breach inside Presidency Correctional Home after senior prison officials uncovered a sophisticated, unauthorised communication network operating from the high-security cell of life convict Aftab Ansari. The investigation — jointly pursued by Kolkata Police, jail officials, and the CID, which is probing the entry of money into prisons — is focusing on potential insider involvement and external funding channels.
The probe comes in the wake of a massive contraband seizure from Cell 14 in ward 1/22 during a targeted search operation. Authorities recovered three smartphones — including an iPhone, a OnePlus Nord, and an OPPO handset — alongside two Jio Wi-Fi routers, a hotspot device, card readers, a 128 GB pen drive, multiple OTG adapters, active Jio SIM cards, ANC wireless earbuds, and Rs 31,000 cash in Rs 500 notes hidden in his bedding and attire. Ansari, the prime plotter of the 2002 American Center attack and the Khadim’s executive abduction case, was supposedly under 24-hour CCTV surveillance and was assigned a dedicated warder.
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