Delhi jailbreak probe ordered
DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS OF ESCAPE EMERGE AS OFFICIALS SAY NO WALL WAS BROKEN
Delhi Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung yesterday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the escape of two prisoners from Tihar Jail while the central government sought a report from jail officials on the incident.
Jail authorities also initiated an internal probe into the escape of undertrials Faizan, 19, and Javed alias Rinku, 18, from the high-security jail No. 7 on Saturday evening.
There were different accounts of what exactly happened.
The Lt. Governor ordered District Magistrate (south west) Ankur Garg to conduct an inquiry into “wall break, digging of tunnel and escape of prisoners” from the jail while Tihar Jail Deputy Inspector General Mukesh Prasad said the prisoners did not dig any tunnel or break any wall.
“The two accused somehow escaped by scaling the jail wall after stepping on a pile of debris dumped by PWD workers while constructing a road here,” Prasad said.
According to Prasad, an initial probe by jail authorities revealed that the two inmates fled from barrack No. 5 in Block 1 of Ward No. 4 inside jail No. 7 on June 27 evening.
“The duo first went to jail No.8. It seems the two climbed the debris piled up near the wall of jail No. 8, after which one of them got on to the others’ shoulder and reached the top of the wall. He then pulled the other one with the help of a towel,” Prasad said.
Jumped into canal
The Tihar DIG said that after jumping over the wall, the two jumped into a canal near jail No.7. While Javed swam across and scaled another wall to make good his escape, Faizan was caught near the canal.
Prasad said the duo was present during the morning headcount on June 27, but were found missing during the evening roll call.
“An alarm was raised after they were found missing. Every ward and barrack was checked. Meanwhile, our team caught Faizan while he was trying to cross the canal,” he said.
Prasad said both the inmates were facing trial for robbery, theft, attempt to dacoity and others. The DIG said jail authorities initiated an internal inquiry under the supervision of superintendent of jail No. 3, M.K. Dwivedi.