Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 19
Prison guards at the Mon District Jail were in for a surprise on Saturday morning, as they woke up to find 9 inmates missing. The jailbreak occurred sometime after midnight and was reportedly discovered by other inmates, who alerted the guards.
According to the Mon district police, the escapees included 7 under-trials and 2 convicts. The crimes for which they were in the prison were theft, arms offence and murder. 6 of them were facing trial for theft and 1 for an arms offence. The other two were serving sentences for murder and theft. Before the escape of the 9, the Mon District Jail had more than 50 inmates, approximately.
A Mon police official said, “Case has been registered and we are investigating and carrying out all measures to apprehend the escapees.”
How spectacular the escape was, was initially blurry with two different versions as to the means applied by the escapees. One version said that they scaled the prison wall using bedclothes as ropes. The other version said they ambled through the main entrance/exit gate of the prison using duplicate keys.
Meanwhile, the Director General (Prisons), Nagaland, issued a statement informing that an (Departmental) inquiry has been instituted to look into the lapses and police investigation has also commenced. “Appropriate punishment will be meted out to the persons found negligent in their duty and a review of security procedures in all jails will be instituted,” it said.
As per the official Departmental account of the escape, it occurred at the prison’s Ward-1 at around 1:00 am, November 19. The escapees broke the ward’s iron door and handcuff lock chain and climbed over the security fence by using blankets as rope.
“The break was detected by an inmate when he found the door of the lock-up open at night. When the jail staff conducted a check it was found that the escapees had used their blankets… scaling the wall of the jail. That particular lockup had 29 inmates, out of which 9 escaped. 20 others were asleep,” it said.
