Officials seized nine hidden smartphones and labeled the viral videos a "staged smear campaign" by prisoners resisting recent disciplinary reforms.(Representational photo)Hours after a news portal released multiple videos of inmates using mobile phones inside the jail, Alok Kumar, Karnataka Director General of Police (Prisons), suspended three officials of the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru on Saturday.Following the incident, Kumar suspended prison warders Niranjan Kamath, Hanumantappa Hadpad, and Shivanand Karlabatti. Disciplinary action has also been initiated against a jailer who was on supervisory duty at the time.The videos, believed to have been shot on the intervening night of March 27 and 28, surfaced after the news portal released them. More than five videos that surfaced show inmates using phones and streaming content.“See here, friends, this guy is using a mobile phone. See here, they are watching a Netflix movie on TV. We were given these mobile phones by Alok Kumar (DGP, Prisons). If you pay money, you will get anything,” one inmate can be heard saying in the videos.“IPL is going to start from tomorrow. Ee sala cup namde (We will win the cup this time),” says another.Soon after the video was leaked, Kumar ordered an internal inquiry. According to a prison official, the inquiry also revealed that the inmates wanted to defame Kumar so that he would be transferred from the post.Phone inside toilet chamber pipesAccording to sources, jail warders made the inmates record the videos and released them.Story continues below this adPrison officials subsequently questioned three inmates — Darshan, Abhi, and Zypsin Daniel — who reportedly admitted that the videos were staged to defame Kumar, who recently tightened regulations inside the state’s largest prison.While Darshan and Abhi, lodged in jail in connection with a murder case in Hennur, are said to have orchestrated the plan, Daniel’s voice was identified in the clips.Prison officials said a search of Barrack Number 9 uncovered mobile phones hidden inside toilet chamber pipes, wrapped in used milk packets. Officials also detected an active Airtel signal within parts of the prison premises and directed the telecom provider to act.They said the three inmates have been moved to separate cells.Story continues below this adAn officer said a case has been registered at Parappana Agrahara police station, and an inquiry is underway to determine how the smartphones were smuggled in.Previous casesThe Parappana Agrahara Central Prison has been in the news multiple times in the last year.In November last year, videos surfaced showing Juhad Hameed Shakeel Manna, accused of recruiting for the terror group ISIS, using both a smartphone and a basic handset inside prison. In another clip, serial rapist and killer Umesh Reddy, convicted in 20 rape and murder cases between 1996 and 2022, was seen sitting beside a TV in his cell while using a smartphone.In October last year, a video went viral showing gangster Srinivas, also known as Gubbachi Seena, celebrating his birthday inside prison with a cake, garlands, and a large knife. In another clip recorded this year, Tarun Raju, an associate of gold smuggling accused Ranya Rao, was seen using a mobile phone.Story continues below this adThe state government appointed Kumar as the DGP of prisons in December last year. By January this year, 127 mobile phones had been seized, and more than 25 FIRs had been registered.