Ludhiana: Jail inmate missing, frantic search on

Jail superintendent Kulwant Singh Sidhu says the inmate may have been hiding somewhere inside the facility as it is highly unlikely he could have scaled the boundary wall because of live electric wires

An undertrial lodged in the Ludhiana Central Jail went missing on Tuesday night, triggering panic among jail authorities and prompting an extensive search operation within and outside the high-security prison.

Accused Rahul (HT Photo)

The missing inmate has been identified as Rahul, 24, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, who temporarily resided in Sundar Nagar, Bhamian. He was lodged in the jail in connection with a theft case registered by the division number 5 police station in 2024. Jail officials said Rahul was last seen during the “bandi” — the evening process when inmates are sent to their respective barracks — but was untraceable during the subsequent headcount.

According to officials, Rahul was spotted sitting in a different barrack around 7 pm and was instructed to return to his own. However, when the mandatory counting was conducted around 9 pm, he was found missing. “We had seen him during ‘bandi’, but during the later count, he was not in his barrack. Since then, an intensive search has been on inside the jail premises,” a senior jail official said.

Despite continuous searches through the night and throughout Wednesday, the missing prisoner had not been traced until 5 pm. Officials, however, did not rule out the possibility of an external escape and confirmed that parallel searches were also carried out outside the premises.

The incident has raised serious questions about the surveillance and monitoring system inside one of Punjab’s most fortified prisons. Senior officials from the jail department are expected to review the security lapses and submit a detailed report.

Meanwhile, the police have been alerted and checkpoints in and around Ludhiana have been set up to stay vigilant.