Prisoner being treated for Covid-19 escapes from Amritsar hospital

Asked policemen to open his handcuffs on the pretext of going to the toilet before breaking open the window and fleeing at 11pm on Monday

AMRITSAR: An inmate of the Amritsar Central Jail who was admitted in the isolation ward after he tested positive for Covid-19 escaped from the local Government Medical College and Hospital on Monday night, hospital authorities said on Tuesday.

Police teams have been deployed and efforts are being made to catch the absconding patient.

“At 11pm on Monday, the Covid-19 positive patient, who was an undertrial, told the two policemen on duty that he wanted to go to the toilet. The policemen opened his handcuffs. The patient, however, escaped by breaking a window in the toilet. When he didn’t came out for long, the policemen and hospital staff got suspicious and broke open the door to find that he had escaped,” said Dr Shiv Charan, the head of the medicine department at the hospital.

Police said the patient, Partap Singh, was jailed for carrying out a robbery in Tarn Taran district and was brought on production warrant by the Chatiwind police in connection with another murder case. He, however, tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday and was admitted to the hospital.

Jaspal Singh, the station house officer of Majitha Road police station, said, “Police teams have been deployed and efforts are being made to catch the absconding patient.”