3 undertrials escape in Amritsar prison break

AMRITSAR: Three undertrials escaped from the high-security Amritsar Central Jail on Sunday by scaling the boundary walls, prompting chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh to order a review of prison security across the state.

Seven officials — two assistant jail superintendents, four wardens and a home guard sepoy — posted in the jail were suspended with immediate effect after the incident. In November 2016, two militants and four gangsters had escaped from high security Nabha jail.

The three prisoners —Vishal Kumar, a rape accused, and Gurpreet and Jarnail (both brothers), accused of theft and dacoity — escaped around 1.30 am from Amritsar jail by making a hole in the wall of their barrack after removing about 10 bricks, police said.

“They then appear to have scaled the inner wall — which is about 16-ft high — by standing one atop the other. While the outer wall--approx 21 ft—was crossed by them using a hook made of a steel bar and the cover of a quilt to make a ladder. “They finally escaped the jail complex from a point near Tower No. 10, which was not under the CCTV cover,” additional director general of police (jails) PK Sinha said after inspection. The officer said there was no evidence of any outside help, according to preliminary investigations, which suggests that the trio, among 61 prisoners in Barrack No. 7, Ahata No. 2, had planned their escape on their own.

The CM ordered a magisterial inquiry that will be led by the Jalandhar divisional commissioner B Purushartha. and ADGP (Jails) Sinha. The escape comes barely three months after a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) company was deployed at the jail to tighten its security.

A statewide hunt has been launched for the prisoners. “Our teams are conducting raids to nab the accused,” said Sinha.

The jail authorities came to know about the incident at 3.20 am.

The prison guards were alerted about the escape by other inmates, who included a brother of one of the escaped prisoners. Vishal’s brother Gaurav, also in the same barrack, chose not to flee with them, said Sinha “We are investigating the role of other prisoners for knowing if anyone had helped the trio to escape,” he said. Reacting to the development, opposition Shiromani Akali Dal demanded an immediate dismissal of the jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa besides a probe by a sitting judge of the high court. Police have registered a case under sections 223 , 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and 52 of the Prisons Act at the Islamabad police station.