RAWALPINDI, Nov 20: A head warden of Adiala jail was caught on Tuesday while allegedly taking Rs20,000 bribe from an under-trial prisoner forgiving him special treatment.

As part of the deal, the head warden allowed the prisoner, who has been there for the last 18 months, to stay in the barrack instead of sending him to the ‘punishment cell’ for committing serious offences in the jail. Besides, he also enjoyed the mobile phone facility.

This was stated by An Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) official Shahid Saleem.

As per the deal, the under-trial prisoner, Ghulam Shabbir, was to pay Rs40,000 per month  to the warden, the ACE official said adding he made a call to his brother, Mohammed Nazir, asking him to arrange the amount and deliver it to the warden at a grocery shop outside the jail.

The official, Shahid  Saleem, said his brother related the whole story in his complaint to the ACE which carried out the raid and caught the warden red-handed while receiving half of the amount.

However, sources in the prison said the prisoner and his brother had laid a trap to get the warden arrested for ‘treating Ghulam Shabbir (prisoner) badly in the jail’.

They said Ghulam Shabir and his brother Mohammad Nazir had allegedly made the deal with the head warden in connivance with a grocery shop owner located across the jail.

Ghulam Shabir was allegedly to pay Rs40,000 per month to the jail warden for letting him in the general barrack instead of sending him to punishment cell.

The ACE officer said there had been strong evidences that the shopkeeper and five to six other prison wardens were involved in the ‘deal’ and they would be rounded up soon.

“Involvement of five to six persons including prison wardens can not be ruled out in the bribe case and more arrests will be made,” the ACE official said.

When contacted, superintendent of jail Malik Mushtaq Awan termed the arrest of head warden a conspiracy hatched by the relatives of the under-trial prisoner who had been in the jail in connection with kidnapping/murder case registered with Chontra police station in 2011.

He said investigations would ascertain the real circumstances in which the prison head warden was caught.