A day before Darshan’s photo and video went viral, CCB raid on Parappana Agrahara Central Prison found nothing

A file photo of the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru. 

A team of over 100 officials from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the city police raided the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison complex to check for irregularities and contraband items at 3 a.m. on Saturday. But the officials did not find anything illegal in the prison. 

This was a day before actor Darshan’s photo, where he is seen chatting with two rowdy-sheeters, and a recording of a videocall, where he briefly spoke to the son of another rowdy-sheeter, went viral on Sunday. 

The CCB officials found the prison unusually clean and well-maintained on Saturday morning, giving rise to a suspicion that prison authorities and inmates were probably tipped off about the raid.

Senior CCB officials then inspected the control room where footage from all CCTV cameras in the complex is monitored live.

Footage from 11 p.m. on Friday showed boxes being carried out of many cells. These boxes were shifted out of the prison complex to an undisclosed location, a probe has now revealed. 

Following this discovery, the CCB sleuths lodged a complaint and a FIR has been registered at the Parappana Agrahara police station against unidentified persons who may have leaked the news of the raid and those who covered up illegalities in the prison.

“The raid was carried out in complete secrecy. But it is now clear that the prison officials were tipped off. This is shocking and we need to get to the bottom of this,” said a senior CCB official.