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3 convicts escape from high-security Patiala jail after punching hole in wall
IG (Prisons) Roop Kumar Arora, who visited the spot, says: “A preliminary probe reveals a major lapse on part of jail officials. We are examining every angle, including possibility of involvement of jail officials. The guilty won’t be spared”
Three prisoners, including a deportee from the United Kingdom, escaped from the high- security central jail here on Tuesday night by making a hole in the wall of a cell.
The three escaped from the jail located in the heart of the city near the SSP office and police lines during the curfew hours from 6pm to 5am, imposed to check the spread of Covid-19.
In November 2016, two militants and four gangsters had escaped from the Nabha maximum-security prison (also in Patiala district) with the help of 15 other gangsters.
The jail officials noticed the escape only in the morning and alerted the police of the neighbouring states.
Sher Singh, who was deported from the UK, is undergoing a 22-year sentence for killing an NRI woman in 2009. He was shifted to Patiala from Bathinda jail on April 3 along with the second escapee, Inderjit Singh, a resident of Ranipur Kambo village in Kapurthala district.
Inderjit was sentenced to 10-year jail in a drug smuggling case, said officials, adding that the third escapee, Jaspreet Singh of Ropar district, was booked in a murder case.
“Sher Singh seems to be the mastermind of the escape. He and Inderjit were put up in a quarantine cell. They made a hole in the wall and escaped. A CCTV footage shows the trio outside the jail compound at 11.30pm,” said a jail official, who did not want to be named.
“Jaspreet had been lodged in the Patiala jail for the past 3 years. He was well aware of the prison structure. Inderjit, an ex-army trainer, is believed to have carved the hole in the wall,” said another jail official.
IG (Prisons) Roop Kumar Arora, who visited the spot, said: A preliminary probe reveals a major lapse on part of jail officials. We are examining every angle, including possibility of involvement of jail officials. The guilty won’t be spared.” He said that sniffer dogs have been pressed into service to trace the accused. A case has been registered.
The three escapees
Sher Singh: A UK deportee, he was undergoing a 22-year sentence for killing an NRI woman Geeta in 2009. A resident of Amritsar, he was brought to India in 2018, under an Indo-UK pact on the transfer of convicts. He was shifted to the high-security Patiala jail from Bathinda on April 3. He is believed to be the mastermind
Inderjit Singh: Convicted in a drug case, the Kapurthala resident was brought to Patiala prison from Bathinda along with Sher Singh. The duo was lodged in a quarantine cell and Inderjit, an ex-Army trainer, is believed to have carved a hole in the cell wall.
Jaspreet Singh: A Ropar resident, booked in a murder case, was lodged in the jail for the past three years. He was well aware of the prison structure and seems to have helped Shera and Inderjit in planning the escape
