A top prison official has been arrested in Assam over an alleged security breach, which allowed the smuggling of gadgets including a smartphone and spy-cam pen into a high-security cell of the Dibrugarh Central Jail, where radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh has been lodged since his arrest in April last year.

Dibrugarh’s additional police superintendent (crime) Sizal Agarwal on Friday said Nipen Das, the Dibrugarh Central Jail superintendent, was arrested late on Thursday under the stringent anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Assam Prisons Act, and Indian Penal Code’s Section 120B (criminal conspiracy).

Agarwal said the breach was noticed last month and that Das was arrested after several rounds of investigation. “This is a national security issue…being the head of the jail, he [Das] must be responsible,” Agarwal said.

Police said the jail has a multi-tier security system, including 24-hour CCTV surveillance.

Assam Police chief Gyanendra Pratap Singh on February 17 said a smartphone with SIM, keypad phone, TV remote with keyboard, spy-cam pen, pen drives, Bluetooth headphones, speakers, and smartwatch were seized after the jail staff searched the cell. He visited the jail and held a meeting with the senior officials on February 20 before ordering the transfer of some prison staff and a probe.

People aware of the matter said Das was being interrogated even as more jail officials were detained on Friday morning for questioning. “This was a major security issue and we may arrest more officials,” said an investigator.

Amritpal Singh was arrested from Rode, the ancestral village of slain Khalistani ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, in April 2023 after a 37-day hunt. He was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and taken to the Dibrugarh jail in Assam.

A crackdown on his Waris Punjab De was earlier launched after his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested associate.

Ten Waris Punjab De members, including Amrit Pal Singh, began a hunger strike on February 17 demanding their transfer to their home state of Punjab. Three of them have since been shifted to Assam Medical College and Hospital, where their condition was said to be stable.