Bengaluru: A Bengaluru Central Prison warden has been arrested after trying to enter the prison with drugs concealed in his clothes.The accused, HA Kallappa from Vijayapura, is in his 40s. He was arrested on drug peddling charges after Karnataka State Industrial Security Force personnel frisked him and found 100 grams of hashish oil, concealed in a pouch and hidden inside his undergarment, when he was entering the prison Sunday night. He was handed over to the jurisdictional Parappana Agrahara police, who arrested him. Currently, Kallappa is lodged in judicial custody at the central prison, where he has worked since 2021. Kallappa told police the oil was meant for the accused in a Mangaluru terror case and he was being paid Rs 3,000 each time he handed over narcotics to inmates. “Kallappa was asked to reach a location somewhere in Parappana Agrahara and give a missed call to a mobile number given by the inmates. A stranger would meet him soon after and hand over the drug-filled packet or pouch. Kallappa would smuggle it inside the prison. Only after handing over the drugs was he paid Rs 3,000,” deputy commissioner of police M Narayan said. Another senior officer said Kallappa is suspected to have been supplying drugs to prison inmates for a long time. “We’ve sent his mobile phone to the forensic science laboratory to retrieve deleted data. Also, we’re scanning his bank account details and other documents. We can then find out how long this has been going on.”
