Three Nepalese undertrials flee from Shimla jail, two sentries suspended
DGP orders probe; police alert all checkpoints, tracing records of people they met in jail
SHIMLA : Three Nepalese nationals, who are facing charges of murder and rape in different cases, escaped from the Model Central Jail, Kanda, near Shimla in the wee hours of Wednesday.
It was around 4am that the prison authorities came to know about the jailbreak after they saw an empty barrack.
They informed the director general of police (DGP) Somesh Goyal and Shimla superintendent of police (SP) who alerted all checkpoints, especially at the inter-state borders.
DGP Goyal, who also holds the additional charge of DG (prisons), said “The two sentries on night duty have been suspended. We have also ordered a probe by the SP (jail).” The police said they are sharing the details of the three undertrials with the Sashastra Seema Bal which mans the Indo-Nepal border.
An official said since construction work was going on the jail campus, the three undertrials might have arranged something to cut the barrack grilles. They escaped from the jail by crossing the compound wall with help of a pole, he said.
The police are also tracing the records of people whom the three undertrials met in the jail. They also combed the forest area next to the prison in Kanda, with the help of a dog squad. The police said they have alerted all barriers and launched a manhunt to nab the undertrials. The role of insiders is suspected in helping them escape, sources said.
A case was registered under Sections 223 (escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant) and 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) on the complaint of jail superintendent Sushil Kumar Thakur at the Boiluganj police station.
THE KANDA JAIL
The Model Central Jail, Kanda, has a capacity of 358 inmates, including 15 females. Currently, 240 convicts, including nine females and 118 undertrials, are lodged in the prison. Suspected ISIS operative Abid Khan is also undergoing five-year sentence in the jail. The policemen, including inspector general (IG) Zahur Zaidi, arrested for the custodial death of an accused in the Kotkhai rape and murder case have also been lodged in the same jail.
PAST JAILBREAK INCIDENTS IN STATE
It is not for the first time that prisoners have escaped from the state jails. Since 2010, half a dozen incidents of jailbreak have taken place. In 2011, a Nepalese who escaped from the Kaithu jail Leela Dhar (22) is from Sattyam district and is facing murder charges. and other Nepalese inmates who fled from the Kullu and Bilaspur jails in the past, have not been arrested. In 1999, a murder convict Nirudh Shyam Dau Reddy escaped from the Nahan jail was never arrested. In 2015, five prisoners escaped from the Hamirpur jail.
POLICE SAY THEY ARE SHARING DETAILS OF THE UNDERTRIALS WITH THE SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL WHICH MANS THE INDONEPAL BORDER