Lahoria found to be using cellphone in jail; inquiry ordered

Patiala, Sep 22 (UNI) An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain as to how former Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Daya Singh Lahoria, undergoing life imprisonment in high-security Nabha Jail here for kidnapping former Union Minister Ram Niwas Mirdha's son in 1997, was found to be using a mobile phone in prison.

Jail authorities recently recovered a mobile phone, four batteries and a SIM card from the possession of the extradited Punjab errorist.

AIG (Jails) Jagjit Singh visited the jail premises and ordered an inquiry into the episode. The matter would be probed by Superintendent of Patiala Jail, G S Sidhu.

Asked how he managed to get the cellphone in the jail, Lahoria hinted at the complicity of one of jail officials.

Sources said the authorities were now trying to trace the numbers to which Lahoria had been making calls from the phone Besides, the involvement of jail officials, if any, would also be probed, they added.

Lahoria had been brought to the Nabha jail to face few cases against him, including the Balbera bank robbery case, in which he has already been acquitted by court, and another case of an alleged encounter with police that took place in 1988 in Bir Shahdipur near Bhunerheri in Patiala.

UNI XC RL KN1541