Day after Amritsar jailbreak, three staff members arrested

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, February 3

A day after three undertrials escaped from Amritsar Central Jail, the police on Monday arrested jail staff members. They were identified as jail warders Shamsher Singh and Dhir Singh, and Punjab Home Guard jawan Kashmir Singh.

They have already been suspended. Four other officials who were suspended were Assistant Superintendents Parshotam Lal and Gian Singh, and warders Subheg Singh and Kulwant Singh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said, “The police have traced the whereabouts of the families of the three undertrials — Gurpreet Singh, Jarnail Singh and Vishal Sharma — and raids are being conducted on their suspected hideouts. The police are seeking the help of their families to nab the undertrials.”

The police, meanwhile, grilled suspended jail officials for hours. “The three undertrials were planning prison break for days. Though the jail staff was claiming to carry out regular search operations, they did not get a wind of their plans,” a cop said.

The police have booked six persons — the three undertrials and jail staff nabbed on Monday — under Sections 223, 224, 427 and 120-B of the IPC. Section 52 of the Prisons Act was added to the FIR later.

Investigation brought out that warders Shamsher Singh and Dhir Singh were on duty at barrack number 2, where the three undertrials were lodged.

Kashmir Singh was deputed at tower number 10 of the inner wall. Preliminary probe found no evidence of any outside help in their sensational escape suggesting that the trio had planned the escape on their own.