Tamil Nadu chief minister Vijay on Saturday reportedly suspended the deputy jail superintendent at Theni district prison, while also ordering major prison staff transfers, days after 17 inmates orchestrated a jailbreak from there.
Deputy jail superintendent N Ramalingam, who had been serving in Theni since August, 2024, was dismissed from service for failure in prison administration and security monitoring, ANI news agency reported. In total, 17 personnel were placed under suspension, and a departmental inquiry ordered against them.
Vijay also directed that foolproof security measures and surveillance measures be ensured in all Tamil Nadu prisons. The 17 inmates who broke out were recaptured, with authorities initiating steps to transfer them to high-security correctional facilities across the state, news agency PTI cited police as saying on Thursday.
Meanwhile, two convicts lodged at the highly secured prison at Puzhal near Chennai also fled on October 20. They were nabbed after two days of search by seven police teams. However, the two jailbreaks, which came within a week, spurred the Tamil Nadu government into action. The state government on Thursday transferred the director general of police (DGP) – prisons and correctional services, Dr Sandeep Rai Rathore, HT earlier reported.
Inmates broke out after staging fake medical emergency
On Monday night, the 17 inmates at Theni district prison staged a fake medical emergency, pretending that one of them was suffering an epileptic seizure. When a guard opened their prison cell to assist, the prisoners overpowered and assaulted him, according to PTI.
The prisoners thereafter took the main gate keys and opened the entrance of the prison, fleeing into nearby forested areas. They then fled from the Aranjanaipudur area on a motorcycle towards Uthamapalayam. The escapees also borrowed a stranger’s phone in Ammachipuram to contact their associated, who provided them with funds, clothing and vehicles.
17 specialised police teams and five special task force units, along with four Tamil Nadu special police battalions, were involved in search operations for the escapees. They deployed specialised drones during daylight hours to scan the dense forest areas and pinpoint suspect locations, police said. Five of them were arrested and produced before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday evening, following which they were remanded to judicial custody until November 10.
Eight others were captured and produced before a court on Wednesday, and were remanded to judicial custody till November 11. The remaining prisoners were produced before court on Thursday.
Following the jailbreak, Tamil Nadu minister R Nirmal Kumar acknowledged “procedural lapses” and announced plans to strengthen prison security through CCTV surveillance, PTI reported.
Bureau Report
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