7 Pak prisoners escape from Amritsar jail : 4 re-arrested
JULLUNDUR, AUG. 28 – Four of the seven Pakistani undertrial prisoners, who had escaped from Amritsar Central Jail on Thursday night were rearrested, the Inspector General of Punjab Police Mr. Ashwini Kumar, said today, report agencies.
They were caught late last night while hiding in fields near Raja Sansi Airport. The search for the others is going on.
The four arrested are : Nasir U-Din of Sialkot, Nasir Ahmed of Poonch, Tufail of Hudiana and Biaz Khan.
The three still at large are; Shangara, Ibrahim and Jehangir.
Mr. R. P. Puri, Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, and his senior officers have arrived in Amritsar to inquire into the incident.
Three guards, on duty when the undertrials escaped, and a Deputy Superintendent of the jail were suspended from service for “gross negligence of duty.” Mr. Kumar said, The guards, it is understood, were away from their points of duty because of heavy rains.
One of the escapees, still at large, has relations on the Indian side of the border, and is reported to have been mainly instrumental in the escape.
Mr. Kumar said it seemed that the Pakistani smugglers were in contact with some Indian counterparts who managed to smuggle a file into the jail in a tin of Vanaspati, which they ostensibly presented to the Pakistanis as a gift.
The undertrials used the file to cut the iron bars of the cell gates on Thursday night when it was raining heavily. The jail lights had gone out following a power breakdown.
The prisoners then escaped, scaling the outer walls.
All police stations and Border Security Force posts along the border have been alerted to foil any attempt by the remaining three to escape into Pakistan.
The runaways were apprehended with the active cooperation of the people of Mulan Wala village in Amritsar District.
The undertrials, after their escape from the jail, were moving about in a planned way in two groups of three and four under the cover of darkness.
Hearing some persons passing by, the group of four quickly entered a field to hide themselves.
Sensing some trouble, the passers-by called villagers, who with guns and spears in their hands, surrounded the field. Police soon arrived on the spot and took the runaways into custody.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 29.08.1971