By Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS): That even Delhi's high security jails are no deterrent for criminals is an open secret. It only gets further underlined by every shocking incident that comes to light of prisoners going to unimaginable lengths to carry on their illegal activities from behind the jail walls.

In the latest incident, a prisoner at Delhi's Mandoli jail was found hiding a surgical blade in his stomach. The matter came to light on Tuesday, when undertrial Sunil alias "Chooha", who is accused in several cases of theft and robbery, returned to the jail after a court hearing.

Before entering the premises, he was searched manually, but nothing was found on him. However, the metal detector sounded an alarm when he passed through it. The guards present informed the jail authorities, who called the doctors to examine the inmate.

The prisoner was taken to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital, where the doctors revealed presence of a suspicious object inside his body and suggested a surgery to remove it. Just as the hospital staff started preparing the prisoner for the surgery, he broke down.

"Chooha revealed that he is hiding a surgical blade, wrapped in a tape, inside his stomach. He said he had swallowed the blade with water to hide it from the jail authorities," said a high-placed jail source.

Sources said efforts are still on to remove the blade from his stomach. As to why he needed a surgical blade inside the jail is still unclear.