LAHORE: Punjab Inspector General for Prisons Mirza Shahid Saleem Baig on Tuesday removed from service three officers of District Jail Pakpattan on charges of minting money from under-trial prisoners (UTPs).

An official familiar with the information told Business Recorder on Tuesday that initially a total of four officials, among them two were senior officers, were suspended by the IG prisons after they were caught in the CCTV cameras on December 15, 2021, taking bribes from the UTPs.

“While issuing immediate removal from service orders for the officers, the IG offered them a chance of personal hearing but only three officers appeared before him while the other officer ‘deliberately’ avoided the opportunity of defence,” he said.

The officer further said that two assistant superintendents – Waseem Sadiq and Abdul Ghafoor – and two Warders – Ijaz Ahmed and Shah Nawaz – were spotted in the cameras taking bribes from the UTPs. “The three officers, except Abdul Ghafoor, appeared before the IG and tried to explain their position,” he said, adding that the IG exonerated Waseem and issued removal from service orders for the other officers.

According to the inquiry report, a copy of which is available with Business Recorder, an under-trial prisoner, identified as Ramzan Maqsood, borrowed Rs 500 from another UTP Dawood Muhammad Din and handed over the amount to Assistant Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor, who was in-charge of the meeting shed, who then let him meet his son, who came to inquire about his health.

In the meantime, the report said that an alert was issued by the IG office to the jail superintendent, who visited the spot and thoroughly searched Ghafoor and recovered Rs 500 from his pocket and seized the amount. The inquiry charged the other three officers with inefficiency, misconduct, corruption and negligence towards performance of their duties and recommended taking necessary actions in line of the provisions of relevant sections of laws.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022