Tihar Jail authorities recovered 350 mobile phones in 285 incidents between 2020 and 2025, with 58% of the devices identified as thumb-sized Chinese-made Kechaoda phones, according to RTI records accessed by The Indian Express. The recoveries show how inmates concealed communication equipment across toilets, walls, trees, water pipes and other vulnerable areas inside Delhi’s prison complex.
The records relate to Central Jail No. 3, the only prison among those responding to the newspaper’s queries with detailed information on recovered communication equipment, including VoIP sets. Tihar, described as Asia’s largest prison complex, has 15 Central Jails, including six at Mandoli, and houses more than 10,000 inmates.
The recovery locations listed in the records include an attached toilet in Cell No. 26, where a Realme phone and an Airtel SIM card were found wrapped in plastic. A Samsung Duos mini phone was recovered from the roof of a common toilet in Ward No. 1, while a Kechaoda phone was found during digging near a temple ground inside a ward. Other phones were discovered in wall cavities, plastic boxes, tiffins, toilet areas and beneath trees.
The pattern in the records points to the importance of size in the devices selected for smuggling. Of the 350 phones recovered, 202 were Kechaoda models, which the report describes as thumb-sized and costing a little over Rs 1,000. Samsung Duos phones accounted for another 88 recoveries, or 25% of the total. Other devices included phones made by Oppo, Redmi, Vivo, Melrose and Realme, as well as lower-cost Indian brands such as Hero, Ringme, Snexian, Blackzone and Lvix.
Only two iPhones and six Nokia smartphones were recovered. Most of the devices were Android phones with dual SIM cards. In 17 cases, the International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers had been erased, making the devices more difficult to identify or trace from their serial records.
The records also show that construction and maintenance work inside the prison has led to several discoveries. Workers and masons retrieved phones during digging in common toilet areas and elsewhere. One white Samsung Duos phone was found at the base of a peepal tree, while a blue Kechaoda phone was recovered near an MCV box. In another case, a white Samsung Duos device was found strapped to an inmate’s back.
The communication equipment recovered was not limited to phones. Jail staff also found earphones, memory cards, data cables and pen drives. The inventory included 19 improvised or hand-made chargers. During a search operation in June 2023, seven phones and an equal number of prison-made chargers were recovered, according to the report.
The RTI responses also refer to recoveries and penalties at the Mandoli complex. Central Jail No. 15 reported 27 pen drives recovered between 2020 and 2026, while Central Jail No. 14 reported one. Central Jail No. 12 stated that staff became aware of inmates using VoIP services on January 1, 2019, although no VoIP equipment was seized. That jail also reported 60 penalties imposed on inmates found using mobile phones over five years.
The 67-acre Mandoli complex in Northeast Delhi was completed about a decade ago to decongest Tihar. The prison authorities have listed mobile-phone jammers, CCTV cameras, surprise searches in barracks and toilets, cross-frisking by the Tamil Nadu Special Police and intelligence gathering among the measures being used to prevent unauthorised communication.
The records do not provide a consolidated response from all 15 Central Jails on the number and location of phone recoveries. The available details therefore cover only the prisons and periods specified in the RTI replies. The listed prevention measures and reported recoveries remain the latest documented details in the material reviewed.
