Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Monday announced the formation of a high-level committee to look into the functioning, administration and security of prisons in the state, The Hindu reported.

This came a day after several videos shared on social media showed inmates at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru allegedly partying inside using mobile phones, The Indian Express reported.

Parameshwara told reporters on Monday that three officials had been held responsible in the matter.

While Chief Superintendent of Prisons K Suresh has been transferred, Superintendents Imamsab Myageri and Assistant Superintendent Ashok Bhajantri have been suspended, the minister said.

Parameshwara also said that some of the videos showing irregularities inside the jail were recorded in 2023 and only a few were recent. “We have examined who were in charge during those times and have sought explanations,” The Hindu quoted him as saying.

Parameshwara further said that the committee to examine the functioning and security of prisons will be headed by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) R Hitendra. Indian Police Service officers Sandeep Patil, Amarnath Reddy and CB Risyhanth will also be part of the panel, he added.

The minister said that the committee will study the conditions of prisons in Karnataka and submit a comprehensive report within a month, The Indian Express reported.

“Based on the findings of the high-power committee report and depending on their involvement, officials will be either dismissed or suspended,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Parameshwara further said that the state Home Department will also carry out a technical audit of the security apparatus at prisons. Provisions will be made to relay the feed of security cameras in prisons directly to the offices of senior officials in the Prisons and Correctional Services Department, he added.

Noting that there were about 5,000 prisoners in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, the minister said that it had been decided to separate undertrials from convicts inside, The Indian Express reported.

Separating the two groups would help curb such activities in the future, he added.

The videos shared online showed high-security inmates allegedly freely using mobile phones, watching television and moving unrestricted within the premises of the prison, The Indian Express reported.

One video also showed serial rapist and killer Umesh Reddy sitting beside a television in his cell and talking on a mobile phone. Another one recorded Juhad Hameed Shakeel Manna, accused of recruiting for the terror group Islamic State, using a mobile phone.

After the videos came to light, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday held a protest march against the state’s Congress government, The Indian Express reported.

The Hindutva party accused the state government of offering “royal treatment” to “terrorists and rapists” inside the prison. Leader of Opposition R Ashok and BJP Karnataka chief BY Vijayendra were detained as they marched towards Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s residence demanding his resignation.

The videos came more than a year after a Bengaluru court in August 2024 allowed the police to shift actor Darshan Thoogudeepa to the Ballari district prison from the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison after reports that he was being given preferential treatment in custody.

Thoogudeepa was arrested in June 2024 in connection with the murder of a 33-year-old man named Renukaswamy, who was his fan.

Nine central jail officials in Bengaluru were suspended after a photograph showing Thoogudeepa sitting on a prison lawn with three inmates was widely shared on social media.

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