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Luxury cells for Rs. 200,000: DSG reveals Sampayo’s alleged prison rackets
The Negombo Prison’s interdicted superintendent, Anuruddha Sampayo, had allocated luxury cells to inmates for sums ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 200,000, the Attorney General’s Department told court this week.
When the case was taken up before Negombo Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya, Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dileepa Peiris said some of the cells resembled hotel rooms and that the interdicted prison superintendent had taken money from drug dealers and other inmates to house them in these cells. Based on information provided by other prison officers and inmates who had spent time in these cells, it has been found that money for this purpose had been left at the prison’s canteen.
Aside from Mr. Sampayo, other suspects who were produced in court were Negombo Prison Chief Jailer Sarath Upali Bandara, Acting Jailer Nishantha Senaratne and Second-Tier Jailer Prasad Kalinga Kaluaggala.
The AG’s Department alleged that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had uncovered that corrupt prison officers ran a racket inside the prison, selling heroin to inmates. The racket was directly supervised by the interdicted ex-prison superintendent and the drugs were weighed and distributed to prisoners in the L Ward, using an electronic scale, which had been recovered by detectives, DSG Peiris added.
Investigations had earlier revealed that the interdicted superintendent had provided a range of items, including a fridge and a rice cooker, to a suspect who was arrested for possessing 200 kilograms of heroin. Though he had claimed that the fridge had been provided to the suspect to keep his insulin as he was a diabetic, prison doctors had told the detectives the suspect did not require insulin injections. It has also been alleged that Mr. Sampayo had earned up to Rs 150,000 a month from inmates by allowing them to use mobile phones.
The luxury items which had been given to inmates for a fee had been listed as donations. Prison officers had given statements to the CID that they put the items down as donations on the orders of Mr Sampayo.
Meanwhile, DSG Peiris told court that Mr. Sampayo had not been arrested in Kurunegala by the Negombo Police as claimed by its Headquarters Inspector (HQI). He questioned how the Negombo HQI could go all the way to Kurunegala without even possessing a copy of the arrest warrant and arrest the suspect when the CID was investigating the case.
Alleging that the Negombo HQI had even treated the suspect to tea after his so-called ‘arrest,’ DSG Peiris questioned whether it was because both the HQI and Mr Sampayo had studied together in the same school.
He claimed that the whole saga of the suspect’s so-called arrest had come about as a result of a “deal” reached between him and the HQI.
The DSG asked court to refuse bail to the suspects as releasing them on bail would undermine further investigations.
Taking the submissions into consideration, the Negombo Magistrate ordered that the suspects be further remanded till August 31.