College student arrested while trying to supply heroin to her boyfriend in Kolkata.

A college student was arrested Tuesday evening while trying to supply heroin to her boyfriend at the Dum Dum Central Correctional Home just three days after a doctor was nabbed for supplying mobile phones, narcotics, alcohol and cash to inmates of the Alipore Central Correctional Home in Kolkata.

Susmita Malakar, a second-year college student was caught red-handed when she tried to supply around 200 grams of heroin to Bhagirath Sarkar at the Dum Dum Central Correctional Home in the northern fringes of Kolkata. She was slapped with various charges including supply of narcotics and will be presented at a district court on Wednesday.

Sarkar who is an under trial prisoner, has been in the facility for five months. This was Malakar’s second visit to meet Sarkar.

“The prison guards became suspicious while she was handing over a case purportedly containing talcum powder to Sarkar and challenged her. About 200 grams of heroin was found inside the powder case,” sad a jail official who did not wish to be named.

The two arrests in less than a week have jolted the government about security in jails.

West Bengal’s Correctional Services minister, Ujjal Biswas said his department is taking the matter of supply of narcotics and other banned



substances to the prisoners very seriously. “We are leaving no stones unturned to plug the loopholes,” he said.

The Dum Dum jail authorities immediately contacted the Dum Dum Police station and cops arrested her.

An official of Dum Dum police station said Sarkar was in jail for attempts to murder and narcotics supply, but Malakar probably had no such criminal record.

“However, considering the quantity of heroin that she tried to pass on to Sarkar, we suspect at least some of it was meant for supply to other inmates. It’s too huge a quantity to be consumed by a single person. We are trying to find out whom this consignment was meant for and whether the college girl is a part of the racket,” the police official said.

On June 9, Amitabha Chowdhury, a contractual doctor at the Alipore Central Correctional Home was arrested while he was trying to smuggle Rs 1.45 lakh in cash, 35 mobile phones, two kilograms of cannabis and four litres of alcohol into the prison. Chowdhury who is in his mid-50s earlier worked as a doctor in the Indian army.

The doctor’s involvement took the jail authorities officers by surprise since he had a handsome monthly income that included a salary Rs 90,000 from the state government and an army pension of Rs 50,000.