Five prisoners, including one facing trial for rape, escaped from a jail in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district on Thursday.
Five prisoners, including one facing trial for rape, escaped from a jail in Chhattisgarh's Mahasamund district on Thursday, officials said. They escaped from the district jail in Mahasamund, where coronavirus-induced curbs are in place till May 16, after climbing a prison wall at around 3:30 pm, they said.
Five inmates scaled a prison wall and jumped on the other side and escaped, said RS Singh, Assistant Jail Superintendent. Singh said he and jail guards tried to chase them but they fled in different directions.
The police were informed about the incident, he said. Of the five inmates, three - identified only as Dhansai (33), Damrudhar (24), and Rahul (22) - were convicted in cases of robbery and lodged in the jail in 2019, Singh said. Another inmate, Karan (21), was convicted in a case of narcotics in the same year, he said.
The fifth prisoner, identified only as Daulat (23), is an accused in a rape case and was lodged in the jail last year, Singh added.
Rahul is a native of Uttar Pradesh while others belong to Mahasamund district, he added. We have alerted all police stations of the district and set up check posts at various locations. CCTV footage of various places is also being scanned to trace them," a police official said.
Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu has directed jail officials to constitute a team for a thorough probe into the incident and trace the absconding prisoners, an official release said.
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