Jailor faces music for taking bribes from inmates, in lok ayukta grip

The jailor of the Mangalore district jail was trapped by the lok ayukta after he was found to be collecting bribes from jail inmates in return for favours.

According to police, the jailor Thippa Naik had allegedly demanded Rs1,000 from a murder accused, Ponkra Poojary to send him to hospital for treatment for a stomach-related disorder.

Poojary however told his friend Pramod Alva about the jailor’s demand. Pained by his friend’s plight, Alva informed the Lokayukta police who charted a plan by arranging to pay the ‘bribe’ through Poojary. When Poojary gave the money, an unsuspecting Naik took it without any hesitation. The lok ayukta police have now arrested the jailor and remanded him to custody.

Lok ayukta deputy superintendent of police Sadananda Vernekar said, “Thippa Naik used to take money for every request of the jail inmates and there were several complaints against him. We have finally nailed him.”

According to other police personnel in the Mangalore sub-jail,  collecting bribes had become a regular racket. Thippa Naik would ‘charge’ every inmates’ kin not less than Rs50 a visit which has now come into the open, they alleged.

Lok ayukta superintendent of police DS Jagamainavar said, “I have to find a jail for the jailor now. It is such an embarrassment for us to send him to the same jail in which he was the top official. He was not only a jailor, but also the superintendent in-charge of that jail.”