Three prisoners escaped from one of Punjab’s high security jails—Amritsar Central Jail— by scaling its outer walls during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, police said.
The prisoners who escaped have been identified as Gurpreet Singh, Jarnail Singh and Vishal Kumar.
According to information, Gurpreet and Jarnail had been incarcerated in a snatching case while Vishal was in jail in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
A jail official who did not wish to be named told HT over phone that the inmates fled from the jail at around 1:30 am.
Sources said the prisoners first smashed through a wall of their cell, and escaped by scaling the outer walls.
Police began a massive search operation early Sunday morning after the jailbreak was detected.
Amritsar Central Jail was the first in Punjab to get a company of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for deployment in the prison to tighten its security. A company of the CRPF was deployed in the prison in November last year.
The jail has been in limelight since Punjab police busted a narco-terror module with the arrest of Army Naik Rahul Chauhan of Haryana, Dharminder Singh of Dhanoa Khurd village in Amritsar, and Bakar Singh of Kalas village in Tarn Taran district last September. Police had also claimed to have seized two highly sophisticated Chinese-made drones, two walkie talkie sets, Rs 6.22 lakh in cash, believed to be proceeds of drugs, and the magazine of an INSAS Rifle at the instances of the accused.
