4 inmates escape from Central Jail

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Triubne News Service

Ludhiana, March 28

Four inmates lodged at the Ludhiana Central Jail fled in the wee on Saturday after scaling two 14-feet walls. The incident came to light today morning when counting of inmates was in progress. Two of the jail inmates have fled second time in a row. One had fled from jail in June 2019 while another had escaped from inmates’ bus in November last year.

Sources said due to the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19) security in the jail had been reduced, which helped inmates in fleeing. Some CRPF jawans were also deployed at the jail, but they too failed to notice movement of inmates.

The four inmates, who escaped from jail, have been identified as Ravi Kumar (24), resided near Durga Mandir, Samrala, Suraj Kumar of UP, presently living at Kheri village on Dhandara Road, Ludhiana Sadar, Aman Kumar, alias Deepak (23), resided near Gurunanak Workshop, Iqbal Nagar, Mandi Gobindgarh, and Arashdeep Singh, alias Seepa (24), of Basti Ajit Nagar, Barnala Road, Sangrur.

All these inmates were lodged at jail in cases registered under the NDPS Act and theft. Police Commissioner (CP) Rakesh Agrawal said four inmates had run away from Ludhiana Central Jail in the early morning today. They were lodged in ‘chakkies’ (special cell) inside jail, the CP added.

The inmates first scaled a wall of the Central Jail, entered the women’s jail from where they further scaled another wall and fled. They attached an iron hook at one corner of the blanket. The inmates threw blanket over the wall and same hook clanged to the tip of the wall, which helped them to scale it.

“Due to curfew they will not be able to go far. All people are requested to inform the police in case they notice any suspicious persons in their locality. Any information about them may kindly be given to Ludhiana police control room. Identity of the informer will be kept secret and he/she will be suitably rewarded,” the CP added.

Jail Superintendent Rajiv Arora did not answer phone calls despite repeated attempts to contact him.

Notably, an inmate had died and 10 others were injured during a clash between the police and prisoners in June last year. Inmates were protesting against the death of a fellow prisoner, Sunny Sood, at Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital on June 27. Five inmates, including Amandeep, had fled from the jail after scaling a wall, but were nabbed later. Another inmate Suraj escaped from inmates’ bus after making a hole beneath seat in November last year. He was arrested later.

Cell opened with keys

It is learnt that out of four inmates two were convicted in some cases. They were lodged in one special cell, which had two locked doors. Bars of both the doors are built in such a way that even if an accused had a key, he could barely bring his hands out from those bars. It is confirmed that someone had opened the lockup, which helped the accused flee. Their movement was captured in the CCTV footage.

Connivance of jail officials suspected

The police suspects that jail inmates could not have fled without the connivance of jail officials. Despite presence of CRPF personnel and huge security of guards at every nook and corner of the jail, the accused managed to flee. ACP (East) Davinder Chaudhary told The Tribune that all four inmates were lodged in one cell, which was locked. Even cell locks were not broken, which pointed towards something fishy, the ACP added. Let the police arrest the accused first, only then the entire mystery behind their escape would unfold, the ACP said.

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