Patiala jailbreak brings to fore gaps in security

Aman Sood

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Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 29

Despite crores spent by the state government on security and prison reforms, inmates continue to manage their way out of prisons. Sources said a probe into the Patiala Central Jail escape on Tuesday had led to almost “limited clues so far”, primarily due to the poor placement of CCTV cameras on the jail premises.

The missing convicts include alleged mastermind of the escape Sher Singh of Vanike village in Amritsar, Inderjeet Singh Dhiana of Ranipur village Komboa in Kapurthala, and Jaspreet Singh Noopi of Dhadi village in Roopnagar.

A top officer probing the case said there was no clue yet how they managed to flee. “Which route they took and who helped them scale the 16-ft outer jail wall needs a thorough probe,” he said.

To execute their escape, the inmates broke out of the bathroom of their cell. Despite the presence of jail guards, the three managed to get away without being noticed. “The cell from which they escaped has a watch tower, but it seems it was left unmanned,” sources inside the jail confirmed.

Patiala SSP Vikram Jeet Duggal said an FIR had been registered against the three accused at the Tripuri police station and efforts were on to nab the absconders.

ADGP (Prisons) PK Sinha said there were some lapses on part of jail administration as the three managed to give a slip to the prison security. “We will probe the incident thoroughly,” he said.

NRI murder convict the mastermind

On November 16, 2009, Harpreet Aulakh, a UK-based NRI and a father of two, got his wife Geeta murdered after she sought to end their marriage. Geeta was attacked in London by two hired killers — Jaswant Singh Dhillon of Ilford and Sher Singh, a teenager from Southall. They both were sentenced to 22 years in jail. Sher Singh was recently shifted to the Patiala prison and is considered the mastermind of the jailbreak.