Four inmates escape from Hoshiarpur drug rehab centre

Four inmates of government drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at Fatehgarh, near here, escaped on Tuesday after injuring a security guard. They were identified as Maninder Pal Singh of Haripur, Amit Handa of Katcha Toba, Harminder Singh of Kahri Sahri and Jasdeep Singh of Bathula.

Four inmates of government drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centre at Fatehgarh, near here, escaped on Tuesday after injuring a security guard. They were identified as Maninder Pal Singh of Haripur, Amit Handa of Katcha Toba, Harminder Singh of Kahri Sahri and Jasdeep Singh of Bathula.

They reportedly locked the door joining dormitories with the reception area and broke open the main glass door with a pipe and interlocking tiles. They hit security guard Rachhpal Singh on his head probably with the same pipe and ran away. Model Town police later sealed the area but there was no trace of the escapees. The guard was admitted to the civil hospital.

In-charge Dr Gurwinder Singh revealed that three of the accused had come to the rehab centre 2-3 days ago while the fourth one was admitted for over a week. He revealed that drug abuse victims are first treated in the civil hospital for a week and then shifted to this centre for mainstreaming.