Murder convict escapes from Yerawada open jail, probe ordered
A murder convict escaped from Yerawada open Jail during roll call. Anil Meghdas Pateniya had been serving a life sentence since 2016.
A murder convict undergoing a life sentence escaped from Yerawada open Jail on Wednesday afternoon. Anil Meghdas Pateniya (35), had been lodged inside the central jail for the last seven years after he was arrested in 2016. On Wednesday afternoon, the prison staff discovered that Patenia was missing during the roll call. Senior prison officer Rajendra Vasant Marle attached to Yerawada Police Station lodged the FIR and informed that Pateniya was arrested on June 2, 2016, on charges of murder and violence.
According to the FIR, a court has awarded life imprisonment to Pateniya, a native of Titwala (Thane) and imposed a fine of ₹15000 on December 12, 2023. The fugitive was initially lodged at Nashik Central Jail before he was transferred to Yerawada on June 15, 2024. He was shifted to an open jail due to his conduct and behaviour. His escape came to light when the jailors took a routine prisoner count on Wednesday afternoon when he was found missing. The jail authorities immediately informed Yerawada police station and an FIR was lodged. According to civil society members, the incident has brought into sharp focus an open breach of security protocols at the high-security central jail.
According to API Vishal Takale, the prisoners who demonstrate good behaviour are lodged in open prison.
“It was on Wednesday afternoon when the roll call of all prisoners was taken, the accused was found missing. Following that an immediate manhunt was launched to trace the prisoner,” he said.
In August 2024, a murder convict Raju Pandharinath Dusane, 43, escaped from the high-security premises of Yerawada Central Jail. Dusane who hails from Vaijapur in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district was sentenced to life imprisonment by Pune additional sessions court in February 2021 for murder committed under the jurisdiction of Warje Malwadi police station for the case filed in 2015.
In July 2024, another prisoner identified as Atmaram Ladkya Bhavar escaped from the prison. Bhavar was arrested in 2009 for committing murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012. In November 2023, a murder convict Ashish Bharat Jadhav (C-949) lodged at the jail since 2008 escaped from the open prison premises.
The state prison department manual states that Prisoners in closed prisons whose sentences have been reduced and prisoners who have demonstrated good behaviour in prison, after selection through the Open Jail Selection Committee are classified in the respective open Jail according to the available space of detention capacity in the open Jail
The manual further states that the prisoners who are kept in open prisons are mostly engaged in agricultural work. An open prison is one where detainees live without fear and under minimal supervision where security arrangements are low. Terrorists, drug mafia and hardcore criminals, people who commit crimes against women are excluded from being sent to open jail.
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