Amidst a series of cases where police personnel have been caught at the wrong end of the law, causing embarrassment to the Karnataka Police, a warden of the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison has been arrested for trying to smuggle contraband items like cigarettes and narcotics, by hiding it in his undergarments, into the prison.
The accused, Rahul Patil, was detained around 6.50 p.m. on Friday at the main entrance of the prison after Karnataka State Industrial Security Force (KSISF) guards grew suspicious during a security frisking as the door frame metal detector started beeping repeatedly. The physical search reportedly led to the recovery of two cigarette packets and 60 gm of thin, paper-like narcotic material.
Prison Superintendent Paramesh, who filed the complaint with the police, immediately ordered Patil’s suspension. The Parappana Agrahara police have registered a case under the stringent provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and Karnataka Prisons Act, 1963.
The series of cases has prompted State police chief M.A. Saleem to issue a circular with a set of guidelines to prevent such cases on Friday, second such circular in two months.
According to officials, Patil had joined the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services as a warden in 2018, earlier serving at the Belagavi Central Prison before being transferred to Parappana Agrahara on June 29, 2025. Within six months of his posting in Bengaluru, he now finds himself lodged in the same prison where he was serving as a warden, at least until he secures bail.
Senior officials from the prison department have expressed embarrassment over yet another instance of staff being caught smuggling contraband into jails. Narcotic trafficking inside prisons has been a longstanding challenge, with several staffers booked in previous incidents.
Police are now probing whether Patil was part of a larger supply network and to whom the seized material was meant to be delivered inside the prison.
Published – December 06, 2025 08:29 pm IST
